Karl and Kendra

My Recent Ouches

2012-02-01T16:42:00.001-08:00

Sorry, this is kind of a complaining/venting blog post. Just a heads up before you continue.

So I feel like things have been going pretty great with this pregnancy. Not that I really have anything to compare it with but I figure when the worst symptoms I have had consist of acne, occasional (ok, maybe not so occasional if you ask Karl) mood swings, and the beginnings of low back pain I really don't have anything to complain about.

Then I went to the doctor in Oregon. I had to do that glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes. Once again I though, hey that wasn't too bad. Then I got the results. Barely elevated, but elevated none the less. So that means on to the 3 hours tolerance test. Let me just say, NOT COOL.

It is not very nice to make a pregnant lady fast for 12 hours, only to have to drink a very sugary nasty drink on an empty stomach and then get poked four times in the next three hours. I spent the whole night thinking about how I needed a drink but couldn't have one and was on the verge of throwing up for the first two hours after drinking that stuff.

Now I get to worry that I am hurting my baby and actually have gestational diabetes for the next two weeks until I see the dr again to go over the results.

I was also informed that I have put on a lot of weight and need to stop gaining so much. Great. Now I am not only a pregnant lady, I am a fatty pregnant lady, which is probably why I will become a diabetic, fatty, pregnant lady.

I honestly didn't think I was that big, but who am I to argue with the doctor. So here is the latest picture of me. Still 27 weeks but I like taking pictures with my different prego clothes to try and see which ones look the best.
On top of all that I am drawing closer to taking the nursing board exam (NCLEX-RN). Lots of my friends from school have already passed and I am terrified that I am going to be the stupid one who fails. I just have a hard time concentrating to study when I keep feeling the baby move and I just want to get things ready for her to come. And now I am worried about this other stuff too. Not helping.

And finally, I was making dinner on Monday (chicken pot pie and it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself). As I was putting it in the oven I was distracted and was brought quickly back to reality as my hand touched the top of the oven and I felt lots and lots of pain. It is healing pretty well, I should have taken a picture right after it happened, but it is still super red and tender. Sorry it is blurry. I have issues taking pictures one handed. Lets just say I would make a horrible surgeon.
So those are some of my ouches lately. Thanks for letting me vent.

Highlights of 2011

2012-01-29T17:53:00.000-08:00

2011 has been a really good year for the Jepson family so I wanted to just recap some of the highlights.

Winter-Karl did not have to go to back to school since he graduated in December. This started to job hunt and he ended up doing home health, taking care of two older people in their own home. The family absolutely adored him. They even tried to convince him not to leave for grad school but fortunately they weren’t persuasive enough.

I unfortunately still had to go back to school, but it was the beginning of my last year of nursing school so that was something to look forward to. I also got to experience the joy of night clinicals, which I actually loved.

Spring- we were able to go to Washington/Oregon for a goalball tournament and were able to go check out Forest Grove, where we were going to be living in the Fall.

I officially graduated from BYU! I finished classes last August but now I am official.

Karl's flag football team won the Championship game.

Summer- That was the time for work. Karl was still impressing the family with his kindness and overall awesomeness.

I started out with two jobs, teaching swim lessons and as an assistant manager at a new theater they built in Draper. After discovering that was a little much I cut it down to just the theater.

We hiked to the top of Mt. Timp. It was quite the hike, but it was gorgeous, we made it, and I loved sliding down the glacier.

Got to go white water rafting and milk a cow! Two lifelong dreams...accomplished.

We drove to California for a friend’s wedding and were able to go camping on the beach. I always seem to pick the cold beaches but it was still a lot of fun.

Fall-Karl started Optometry School! We had a blast exploring the area once we got him moved in and even tried our hand at crabbing. Success.

We found out we were going to be having a baby! That made the fact that I had to go back to Utah to finish school a little more bearable since I was leaving on a happy note.

I started my last semester of nursing school! And got to work with kiddos up at Primay's the whole time. I LOVE peds.

We survived the four month separation and found out we are having a little girl! Bring on the pink.

And I officially graduated from nursing school.

So it has really been a great and blessed year for our family. Can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us.

Storms in Oregon

2012-01-20T12:57:00.001-08:00

The last few days in Oregon have actually turned into winter. We had a pretty decent snow storm and have had lots of rain the last few days. Oregon may be known for being green and having lots of trees but apparently those trees did not get the memo that they are supposed to be strong and be able to withstand storms. Or apparently they get so much rain that they turn soggy.

So after the snow storm we woke up to broken trees all over the place. This particular tree was huge and is now blocking half of the road.
The falling trees also resulted in a lot of downed power lines.
So the side walks have been covered with broken branches and power lines but we are doing good. I would have taken better pictures but my camera died.

Our Life in Oregon

2012-01-15T19:01:00.001-08:00

Well, we made it to Oregon alive! This is kind of a long post with pictures but since I now live really far from family I just wanted to give you all an idea of where we now live.

This is the outside of our house. It is right on the end so we only have neighbors on one side, which I LOVE! It is super quiet and our apartment is set up like a townhouse. This means bedrooms are upstairs and the living area is on the main floor. This ALSO means that we don't have upstairs or downstairs neighbors! YAY!I think Karl's favorite feature is the doorbell. It gives it more of a real house feel. Anyways. When you open the door you have two choices. You can go up the stairs to the bedrooms and bathroom or continue straight to our big living/dining room. And this is an old picture from when Karl first moved in. I promise the boxes are not still sitting around.
This is looking from the kitchen into the living room. I absolutely love the little bar so I can be doing dishes or cooking and still feel like I am apart of whatever Karl is doing in the living room. Those blinds open up to a sliding glass door and onto our little green (from all the moss and rain) cement slab of a "backyard".
And this is from the living room looking into the kitchen. Notice my huge pile of dishes in the corner. There isn't a dishwasher but I am getting used to doing everything by hand again. I have been spoiled for a long time.
Ok. That is the downstairs. If you chose to go up the stairs you run into our room.
This is a picture looking from our room down the little hallway. The stairs are there on the left. The first door on the right is the bathroom. The second brown set of doors of the right is a little pantry/storage closet. And straight ahead is the second bedroom.
My favorite part of the second bedroom, or the baby's room, is the built in shelves. All in all I love the apartment. The only thing I don't really like is that there is not a ton of lighting. If you noticed there weren't really any lights in the living room and none of the bedrooms have lights. So far we have one lamp but I am thinking we really need to get some more. Especially with how gloomy it is outside around here.

So that is our place. A quick update on us. We are doing great. Karl started school again and I am settling into my role of guinea pig. Still working on figuring out what to do with myself now that I am no longer a student, for the first time since kindergarten. I have been pretty busy trying to clean the apartment and get everything organized.

Everyone has been so nice to me here. It is a good thing that Karl is so great. He made a lot of friends so I feel like I already have a build in network up here. The wives are all really nice and I went to school with two of them at BYU. I swear the church makes the world super small. There is also a girl who is related to some family friends back home in Nevada.

Up here the optometry students, at least all the ones that I have met are very concerned with finances and trying to save money. So what is the big thing to do up here? "Thrifting." I went with a friend last week and I really think I might get addicted. There is a place called thrift city that is basically like a DI but they have really really nice stuff and it is super cheap. I love DI for the games back in Utah, but this place here actually has nice clothes. I got a rocking chair that I absolutely love for 15 dollars. It just needs to be recovered, which is also awesome because it gives me a project. There were also a lot of adorable baby and maternity clothes and since I have pretty much nothing that fits me anymore it was great. And we ran into about 6 people from the ward there. It is a pretty popular place. But when you can get practically brand new American Eagle, Gap, and Roxy, and Motherhood clothes for about $2.50 each what's not to love?

Anyways. Here is one last picture. This is me at 24 weeks. I can't wait till we can finally meet our little sweetheart. My favorite thing is feeling her kick. I still have yet to have Karl feel it but he says he would rather just wait and see her kick once she is born so I guess as long as he doesn't feel left out we are good. :)

Thoughts and Discoveries

2011-12-15T20:31:00.000-08:00

I have had a lot of time to think this week. All my finals were done on Monday so after that it has just been lots of time to unwind and relax. I thought this would give me plenty of time to get all of my stuff packed to get ready to move. This is what I THOUGHT. Instead, it is now almost Friday. Karl gets here on Saturday, and I have pretty much nothing done.

I THOUGHT I was super excited to move to Oregon, and I am. I am excited to live with Karl again. To be able to see him and talk to him with out getting a huge stitch in my neck. I am super excited for that part. But I discovered that I am not super excited to actually move to a different state where I don't know anyone. Where I don't have family close. Where I don't have friends that I can go visit and hang out with.

I thought I didn't want to pack my room because it was a big job. I think I discovered the real reason is if I don't pack I can't move. I can't just leave all my stuff, even though most will probably get left behind since we don't have tons of room in the car. :) If I don't get everything cleaned and packed up it isn't real. It isn't really going to happen and Karl can just stay here with me in my comfort zone. Stupid reasoning I know, but that is where I am right now.

I thought I was ready to be a mom. I discovered I am terrified. I don't know what I am doing. I don't know how to be a parent. Especially when I am at least 13 hours away from the closest person I know who can help me figure it out. I don't feel like I have a clue. I don't know what I should be doing to get ready, what things I need, what I need to learn. It just scares me but I guess there is no going back. And I don't want to. At all. I just wish I felt more confident in my abilities but I will figure it out, eventually.

I thought I was really excited to be done with school. And I am. But I have discovered that I wish there was a way for me to be in Oregon and still in my same nursing class continuing on in the program. I made a lot of friends. And it makes me really sad to think I will probably never see any of them again. That I won't get weekly updates on how everyone's lives are going.

I thought I like the movie "Christmas in Connecticut". It is an old black and white movie that my sister and I used to watch every Christmas Eve. I discovered I still love it. It just makes me laugh and brings back old memories. I had to have at least one discovery that didn't make me cry (hormonal pregnant woman here).

So those are my thoughts at the moment. I am really nervous for what the future holds but I have discovered that despite all that I am really excited to start this next chapter of my life. And as long as I have Karl with me I know we can handle what comes our way and figure it out.

As updates go, I get to go to the Dr. tomorrow to make sure everything is fine with the baby. I am pretty sure it is still alive. I either felt it moving like crazy this morning or I have the twitchiest abdominal muscles in the history of mankind. Karl flies in on Saturday. Sunday is my last day in Sunbeams. And we get to find out if it is a boy or girl on Monday. Kind of a busy weekend, but it is going to be great.

Guess What!!!

2011-11-30T21:32:00.000-08:00

Yep, Karl and I are having a baby! I am about 17 weeks along and we finally told our families over Thanksgiving last week. We wanted to tell when we were together, which is pretty much never now-a-days. I was a little nervous to just come out and say it so we gave them that card to break the news. I think it worked pretty well and now they have something to hang onto.

We found out in August while we were in Oregon moving Karl up for school. We had been unloading boxes, moving furniture, and exploring the coastline for a week and I swear whenever we had a quiet moment, like the car rides, I couldn't help but fall asleep. I was a little late on my cycle and I decided that if I hadn't started before I had to go back to Utah I was going to take a test. So, at about midnight, after crying because I had to leave soon, I checked and sure enough it was POSITIVE!! So instead of leaving on a sad note Karl and I were super excited. Unfortunately I had to leave for Utah about 5 hours later, but at least I was able to tell him in person instead of "guess what..." over the phone.

But funny story, my entire nursing class knew about 3 days after I did. It was the first day of class and we were going around saying something unique about ourselves (I always hate that. I can never think of anything) to try and help the teachers remember who we are. So it gets to me and I say "I am here finishing my last semester and I just got back from moving my husband to Oregon because he starts his first semester of Optometry school today. So we get to do the long distance marriage this semester". Lots of people knew that already but some didn't so they were being nice and saying that sucks. But then one person says "Well, guess that means you don't have to worry about getting pregnant this semester". It just caught me so off guard and I am horrible at lying anyways so I just turned bright red and one of my friends looked at me and says, super loud I might add, "Oh my gosh, you're PREGNANT?!?" Didn't know it was possible to turn even more red, you probably could have cooked an egg on my face for how hot it felt, and then I started crying because I totally did NOT know what to say. I didn't want people to know yet in case I miscarried or something. So that was probably the most eventful first day of school ever for me. But it ended up being great that they knew because I had people to talk to about it when I couldn't tell anyone else.

So things have been great, I haven't really been very sick, everything seems to be fine with the baby, and in three weeks Karl and I don't have to do the long distance marriage thing anymore. Lots to be thankful for (and by the way, if my posts are too long please let me know. I don't feel like I write a lot but after I post it I swear I have written a novel. So if I need to be more brief I would appreciate the heads up. Thanks!)

Primary Program Fun

2011-11-16T14:08:00.000-08:00

So for those who don't know I teach Sunbeams at church. That means I get to hang out with a bunch of 3-4 year olds for two hours each week. It can be stressful and drive me up the walls sometimes but I love it. I was in nursery for about a year before "graduating" with my kids into Sunbeams. So it has been a fun ride and I have loved seeing these kids grow and watch their little personalities develop over the years. They say some of the funniest things.

For example, last week we had our Primary Program. I was a little concerned because my kids really don't like to sit still and we were going to be in the front seats where the bishop usually sits, which is great for the parents who get to see their kids. Not so great when you have to try to keep them all in line. So I got to sit next to one kid who has a little harder time than the rest when it comes to behaving. We spent sacrament meeting trying to keep his shoes on, keep him in his seat when we weren't singing, trying to coax him to stand by his chair when he was, and look forward instead of making faces and poking the kids behind us.

But somehow we almost made it through the whole program without any major incidents. My class had parts towards the end and I was so proud when they got up there to say their lines. They did great. One little girl stood up, said her part, and then started bawling when she got back to her seat. I think she just got scared being up in front of all the people. So I moved over to try and calm her down while my "little friend" I had been trying to keep under control went up to say his part. Dun dun dun...

While I am trying to comfort the crying girl I hear "I can read good books" which is his part and is awesome, but he didn't stop there. He went on to say "they give me superpowers and I can KILL bad guys". Once he got yelling (since all little kids yell into the mic when they are that age) KILL over the podium one of the Primary Presidency ripped him away from the microphone but it was pretty funny. Everyone started laughing and all I could think was Yep, that's Dominic for ya.

So all in all it was a memorable Primary Program and for the most part it turned out great. So just remember, you should read good books because they will give you super powers. Whether you decide to kill bad guys or not is up to you.

Don't you think?

2011-10-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is just a round of Don't you think? Let's see if you agree with me.

Beauty and the BeastI totally love this movie but when I was watching it I noticed a few things. Like...

Don't you think it is a bit harsh to turn an 11 year old boy into a beast for being mean to an ugly old lady? He's a preteen boy for crying out loud. Where were his parents?

Don't you think it is weird that Mrs. Pots has like 50 tea cup children but only ever talks to Chip? Pretty sure she didn't have 50 kids when she was human so where did all those other tea cups come from?

Don't you think the beast looked a lot better as the beast? I mean come on, all the creative minds in Disney and the best they could come up with was this?
Whenever he gets turned into the prince I always think "turn him back, turn him back!"

Next is The Swan Princess

Don't you think this movie is hilarious? I forgot how funny it is. I mean with lines like "You should write a book, 'how to offend women in five syllables or less'" and a frog trying to get a kiss every five seconds how can you go wrong? You know you love this show, go watch it again, soon. You'll thank me.

Don't you think it is impossible to find the Halloween candy you want? I swear every bag has at least one candy I really don't like. And then today I was trying to find a bag of Frooties (since they are one of my favorites), which I thought was a pretty basic trick or treating choice, and I couldn't find them anywhere. Come on.

Don't you think Karl is the sweetest most awesome guy in the world. First I have to explain why and then you will agree with me if you don't already. Before he moved up to Oregon he apparently hid some things around the house for me. When I got back from moving him in he sent me on a scavenger hunt through text and I found a gift card to Frogurt (so great).

Getting back from this last trip was even worse. I came home to an empty house and just started bawling. This time he directed me to a rose and a note he had left for me. It was just what I needed at that moment. Didn't help with the water works, kind of exacerbated that part, but the words were exactly what my heart needed.

While I couldn't think of anything except, do we have everything packed, how is this all going to fit, are we forgetting anything, crap Karl is leaving me soon. He was planning ahead, thinking of things he could do for me, and getting things lined up to show he loved me even from 800 miles away.

So, Don't you think Karl is a sweetie? Because I sure do.

Fall Break in Oregon

2011-10-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

So I am finally in Oregon and get to see Karl!!! Unfortunately I have been really sick since I got here and have spent the majority of my time asleep in bed. But when I actually am coherent I really love it up here.

I love our apartment.
I love how green everything is.
I love actually being able to see Karl.
I love being able to watch shows together.
I love being able to make dinner together.
I love being able to talk at night without getting a crick in my neck from holding the phone.
I love going on walks at night and being able to hold Karl's hand.

I could go on for a lot longer but I am starting to fade and you get the idea. I just love being in the same state as my husband. All in all it is just better. Even if I am a zombie right now and sound like a man from my cold.

I don't know where Karl hid the camera or else I would post some pictures of our new place but I guess that will have to wait for another time. Goodnight...at 11:30 am.

Oregon

2011-10-05T13:03:00.001-07:00

So it has been official for awhile now but Karl is now living in Oregon. I am finally getting around to putting up some pictures of our trip up to move him in.

It all started out with a going away/birthday party with his family. This is his cake. I thought it turned out pretty good for my limited skills.

Don't mind all the clutter around it. Anyways, we broke up the drive over two days but it was still super long. With a lot of effort we got all our stuff into the second floor apartment. That place is not really designed for people to move in and out, which is ironic since it is month to month rent. There was a super narrow staircase that we had to try and get our furniture up. I am still amazed we were able to get everything. Thanks Tony for being there to help. I mostly just got in the way. I am discovering I am not as strong as I think I am .

So once we got everything in the adventures began. One of the highlights....Crabbing!
It was so much fun. Here is the challenge. What is the difference between Karl's and Tony's crabs? (Besides the size). One is a boy and one is a girl. You try telling the difference.

It was great to just spend the day out in a boat trying to catch these guys. We kept way too many but it was so much fun. When we got home the boys cleaned and cooked while the girls ran to the store.
It was my first time trying crab. I am still not really sure if I like it, but Ann was in heaven.

Next adventure, going to the beach. It was gorgeous. I can't believe I didn't bring my suit because the weather was gorgeous. Then we headed up to Astoria. They have this awesome tower that we climbed to the top of.
It was so intricate on the outside. I wish I could have been able to see more of it. But here is the view from the top.

I am in love. Who could ask for a more beautiful place to call home for the next few years. I can't wait til it is my time to move up there. It has been rough not being able to see Karl and phone calls just really aren't enough, but we are hanging in there. School is stressing both of us out so I guess that is a good thing. Something else to think about. But I have never looked forward to Christmas so much in my life.

Summer Recap

2011-09-05T19:10:00.000-07:00

This summer Karl and I were able to have a lot of fun together. We were able to test out our new tent at Moon Lake with Tony and the UFB kids. It is so beautiful up there and we were able to go White Water Rafting. My first time! And I absolutely loved it. Now I am ready to turn hard core rafter.

We also went camping with our friend Nic and his girlfriend Mari. We were able to just relax, play horseshoes, and walk through a waterfall.It was super cold, but pretty. The next day I had to work from 5 until about three in the morning (oh the joys of working at a theater). That gave me less than 2 hours of sleep before we had to leave to hike Mt. Timp. Not a good idea to attempt that hike on pretty much no sleep. BUT, I prevailed! Karl, Rachel, and Thomas were really patient with me and we all made it to the top together.

It is such a pretty hike. And it only took about 10 hours. :)

Danny and some of his friends took us down the glacier and let me tell you, there is no other way to get down. It was so much fun, scenic beyond belief, and it was a lot less work. Our next big trip was going to California for Karl's friends Justine and Lewis's wedding. It was in the San Fransisco area and the weather was great. Afterwards we went to the Oakland Zoo on our way to our Beach Campground. I got asked if I was older than 14. Didn't think I could really pass for a kid anymore, especially with my wedding ring on, but apparently I can.

I have decided if I had to be a monkey I would be a white handed Gibbon. That one was so active. It was so fun to watch. We also got to see them feed the alligators which was awesome, yet scary. I never want to be on the same side of the fence as those things.
I apparently am not good at picking new beach camping spots. They are always pretty, but it is always to cold to get in the water. We spent most of the time in jackets, again. But we still had a blast. There were tons of tidal pools and beaches to explore.
But our favorite place was our sand dune. It was quite the hike to get up but once we made it there was nothing but gorgeous sand and breathtaking views. We spent most of our time at Montana de Oro up there.
When we got back to Utah Karl took me to Wheeler's Farm. We got to see all the cute animals and I finally fulfilled a lifetime dream. To milk a cow. It was just as cool as I thought it would be. Now I want a cow of my own. Except I am sure if I had to get up at 4 every morning to milk the dang thing I would get tired of my cow very fast.
Anyways, this a little bit of our summer. Now Karl is in Oregon and school has started for both of us. It is not fun being apart but we are learning to cope. I will post some of our pictures from that trip soon. Hope everyone had as great a summer as we did!

Happy Country Days!

2011-07-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

First off I just need to brag about Karl. Here he is with his flag football team after winning the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! Yep, I married a stud. Good job honey!

Next, I feel so blessed to be a dual citizen. I love living in America and am so grateful that I am able to live in a country that allows me all the freedoms I take for granted every day. I am also so grateful that I am a Canadian citizen and have that beautiful country as part of my heritage, even if it does cause a little persecution when I start talking about my garburator, runners, eating buns, and more. :)

I was so excited for Canada Day (July 1st) this year. I got all pumped by listening to all my canada songs, singing the national anthem (in French and English) and finding my Nanimo bar recipe. My family was in town, which made it even better, and we got to celebrate big time. We went to a parade in Riverton, hit the Living Planet Aquarium, and even topped off the night with of Nanimo bars (seriously one of my favorite treats), football, and firework popper things. It was so great to see my family. The next morning they headed off for Canada but it was fun while it lasted. Hopefully Karl and I can make it up to Canada one of these days. He still has yet to meet most of my family. I thought I had more pics but apparently this is the only one I have of that momentous day.
Me and Nat at the Aquarium.

For the Fourth Karl, Rachel, Kirsten, Tony and I went hiking up Mt. Timp. Because of all the precipitation it was quite the hike. We were able to ford a snow field
The waterfall was massive due to all the runoff. We were just going to just go to the waterfall but then we got a little adventurous. We climbed up half the mountain and across more snow fields to make it to the top of the waterfalls.
Making everyone pose for a picture. It was gorgeous up there. I love how the water goes under the snow.
Karl and Rachel started having stick fights. I swear sometimes I feel like those two are four years old and I am their mother, constantly telling them to stop picking on each other. :)
We stopped for a quick game of snowball.
Karl showing off his muscles in front of one of the waterfalls. Yeah, we hiked so that at one point I was looking down through those trees above the waterfall.
Me with my best buddy. Thanks for such a fun Fourth honey!

Our Crazy Busy Life

2011-06-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

So life has been a bit nuts the past few weeks. Karl and I haven't been able to see much of each other which has been awful.

I have been working as a swim instructor and assistant manager at a Cinemark close to our house. This means roughly 15 hour days, and a schedule that consists of work, a nap, work, going to sleep, and then starting all over, food being optional or the theater diet (meaning popcorn and Icee's). The only time I have been able to see Karl has been my days off and maybe 15 minutes between my jobs if he got home early.

Except Karl's job has been a bit nuts lately as well. The family he cares for went on vacation so he got to sleep over there for a week. No Karl sightings. Then one of the family members ended up in the hospital for surgery so Karl has been pulling really long shifts with no days off, also contributing to Karl not being around.

But as the saying goes, "Absence make the heart grow fonder". I love it when Karl and I actually get to hang out. This weekend I got to watch him play in his championship flag football game before he had to go into work. His team won of course. :) Karl played awesome. But one, maybe two days a week of seeing each just isn't enough so I quit my swim lessons and hopefully will be able to do some day shifts so Karl and I can see each other in the evenings.

So that has been us lately. Just working and trying to see each other as much as possible. But now I need to go clean our disaster zone of a house, which is what happens when there is no time to do anything but sleep.

Oh what do you do in the Springtime?

2011-05-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

I realized I kept checking everyone else's blogs but I haven't updated ours for months. So here is what we have been doing in the springtime:

Graduate-Karl and I ended up being in the same commencement book, so that was fun. We have both officially graduated from BYU...and neither of us walked. We'll have to do that the next time around.

Go to Weddings- My cousin got married over reading days so that was fun. My family came up and I got to see my Virginia cousins for the first time in about 10 years. It was time and we had a blast.

Spend time with Family-

Cami came up with the kids awhile ago and we got to babysit one night. I love Maddy's face in this one. We watched Tangled with them and heard all about "mommy scary", "horsey funny" and the "pincess".
Then my family came up for the wedding so we got to hang out. Tay was in heaven playing games at Boondocks with Karl. It was so great seeing everyone.

I just love my family.

Take Finals- Because the wedding took place over my reading days I didn't really study for my finals. And it showed on my test results. However, my last test went well and at least I am done with my third semester of Nursing school. That means I get my first summer off in like three years. And I'm pretty sure I passed my classes so we should be good to move on to my last semester in the fall!

Play Football-
Yes, Karl is playing football in about a foot of snow. He is in a league right now so we get to go to his games on Saturdays. This Saturday we woke up to a little snow in Draper. I swear everywhere in Salt Lake County got dusted with snow except this field in Midvale, which got tons. But on the bright side it was pretty warm despite the snow. And for the first time Karl wasn't bleeding by the end of the game because the snow padded his falls. He always has to rush the QB so he is usually diving and slipping all over the place, but he is really fast and gets a lot of sacs, so I guess he thinks it's worth it.

And finally GOALBALL-

This was our life the past weekend. Karl and I went to help with the Western Region Tournament for Goalball (at least I am pretty sure that's what it was). Karl was able to ref and I got to help at the table doing the clock, scorecards, timing, and everything else. The best part was during this game. This is from the gold medal match for the men. Karl was on the court trying to fix the tape while the teams had a time out. Karl was bent over with his back to us when one of the players started running to his position. All the players are visually impaired to begin with, but during the medal matches they also have to have patches over their eyes and blacked out masks to make sure they can't see a thing. Needless to say, this is not a good time to be running around a gym. So this kid is booking it to his spot and totally trips over Karl. Karl gets kneed in the head and this kids goes flying. Then right after that another player (who was not running but also can't see a thing) is getting into position and head butts Karl. I felt so bad for him but I was laughing my head off. I wish I had gotten that on film but my poor description will just have to do.

So that's what we have been up to lately. Karl, Rachel, and Nic made me a nice ice cream cake for my birthday. Karl's been busy with work. And now I get to look for jobs. Life couldn't get any better.

Us Lately

2011-02-28T15:24:00.001-08:00

Not much has been going on in the Jepson household lately. I have been up to my ears with church stuff and school and it's been the same with Karl and work.

Karl:
Karl quit his job at Walmart, for which I am very grateful. He was working night shifts and was a "receiving associate", so he stocked all the dairy and meat products that came in. Wouldn't be too bad except he had to do it all by himself, which was a ton, and the shifts were spread out during the week. This meant that his sleeping and eating schedule were way out of wack, and he often just wouldn't eat. Fortunately those days are behind us and he now works in a home health position. He helps take care of an old man with dementia and his wife, who has beginning stage Alzheimer's. He's so great. He comes home everyday and just says he wishes he could do more to help out the family. I sure married a sweetheart. Karl is also an assistant ward clerk in charge of memberships, so in a ward with tons of apartments he is constantly trying to figure out who is moving in and out. And he just got back from a weekend in Michigan. He flew out to referee for Goalball, a sport for the blind and visually impaired. All in all he's doing great at keeping busy without school.

Kendra:
Having two callings for church really shouldn't be a big deal, especially when one is assistant stake sports director. However, when the head sports director gets released and no one else is called and you have to get everything together for the regional tournament, it ends up being a lot. On top of all the meetings and paperwork I get to be the teacher of a rambunctious group of 3 turning 4 year olds. To summarize my weekly church experiences, I am often seen sprinting down the hallways, usually 2 or 3 times during sharing time, or out in the halls with screaming kids during class so my partner can teach the rest of them. It's a learning experience.

Other than that I just do school work, or avoid it like I am right now. I am taking a medication for my TB that completely wipes me out, which makes me feel pathetic because it's not like I am really doing anything. I'm currently doing clinicals in Labor and Delivery and I LOVE being around all the babies. I'm completely baby hungry so I have loved being able to hold them. I have always wanted twins and last week I got to hold some in the NICU. It is official, I want my own. They were so small and adorable. I can't wait for school to be done, for multiple reasons.

So that's us right now, nothing too exciting.

Adventures in Sunbeams

2011-01-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

For the past year I have been in Nursery and LOVED it. When we got called Karl and I were sitting outside the Bishop's office talking about what we thought we would be called to. I kept saying it was going to be nursery because I thought it would be the best calling in the world, but I didn't really think we would get it. Then we went in and it really was nursery. I just started crying. I know that is where I needed to be and I loved every...well, almost every...minute of it.

Now I have officially graduated, along with my old nursery kids, so we all get to be in Sunbeams together. It is quite the change. You go from playing all day, sitting for a 5 second lesson, and eating treats to being expected to sit still and be quiet for 2 hours. But somehow we will all survive together.

I just love the things the kids say. For example, one little boy told me after class that at four o'clock (I don't know why it was 4 but apparently that was important) he was going to go to space. And whenever we ask them a question the answer is Jesus.

But what melts my heart is when they ask about Karl. He isn't my partner anymore, now that he is an assistant ward clerk, but he helps on occasion. A little girl kept asking me all day "Where is Carlo? Is Carlo sick? Where is he? I miss Carlo." The other kids are always asking about him too. I don't think they remember my name but they sure know and miss Karl. He is so great with kids.

So it's going to be a long year but I am determined that I am going to love sunbeams just as much as Nursery. I just need to come up with ways to keep them quiet in sharing time and entertained in class. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Pay it forward

2011-01-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

Pay it forward 2011:

I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. You must in turn, post this (FB or Blog) and send something YOU make to the first 5 people who comment on your blog (or FB post). The rules are it must be HANDMADE and must be sent to the 5 people sometime during 2011.

As a disclaimer I am not the most creative person in the world but I promise I will do my best. :) This could be lots of fun so comment and let's get this thing rolling!

Tuberculosis I hate you

2010-12-22T08:46:00.001-08:00

Winter semester in Nursing is proving to be an annual pain. Last year when I was starting the program I had to turn in a lot of paperwork, some of which verified that I was current on my immunizations. Well, the secretary lady told me that my TB (tuberculosis) test wouldn't last long enough so I would have to get a new one by the next day. First off, it "expired" one day before the end of the semester, and I would definitely not be in the hospitals at that time. Second, you have to wait 48-72 hours to get the results of the test so there was no way I could turn in a new test the next day. But after a lot of crying, praying, and stressing it all eventually worked out.

Next year

Well, the time was approaching for me to get my annual TB test so I could continue on in the program. Went in and got the shot and then finished up all of my finals (so 1 year of nursing is officially over!). I was a little concerned because I had a bump on my arm from the test. It wasn't red and inflamed or raised a ton so I didn't really know if I should be worried. After showing some of my classmates (I figured I'd let them be nurses and tell me if the test was positive) I was pretty convinced I had nothing to worry about. I guess it's a good thing we still have a year to learn because we were wrong. It was positive.

So instead of being really excited that I had finished finals I was really scared that I wouldn't be able to continue on in nursing. I had to get a blood test that day before we left for Nevada (on Thursday) and wait until Monday to get the results. That was a fun waiting period. And, of course, that test also came back positive. So I am starting to freak out. I've been contaminating people for who knows how long. And I had just barely visited my pregnant friend and her little baby, that scared me the most. But the next step is to get a chest X-ray to see if you are actively contagious or have ever had active TB.

It was quite the process trying to get in to get that taken care of. It was hard to get the appointment and when we finally did we had to do the X-ray 3 times because the machine wouldn't work right. But low and behold, I don't have TB. So all of you who were getting nervous reading this because you have been near me, don't worry. I didn't pass it to you. And I am not going to get kicked out of the program as I feared so Nursing is still my second major. I just have to take meds for 6-9 months to make sure the TB doesn't become active. Lame, but better than being sick already.

So that was my stressful holiday story, but now it has been resolved, for the most part, and I can just enjoy hanging with my hubby and my family in the nice desert rain. Merry Christmas!

Beautiful

2010-12-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

My Wife is Hot

Couches, Count-Downs, and Christmas

2010-12-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas is fast approaching, bringing with it the end of the semester. Thank Goodness. I know my finals are going to be rough, and Karl's will probably be worse, but at this point I just don't care very much. I just want them to be done. So that's what we are counting down to. In roughly 11 days Karl will be done with his undergrad (and I will be done with one more semester)! I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard and it's paid off.

There have been some changes around the house in the past month. When Cami and James left they took their lovely couch that was in the front room, so it was completely empty. That meant we got to go furniture shopping! But not for us, with Rachel, which I think is even better. I got to see all the furniture, find things that I really liked, but in the end I didn't have the final stress of having to pick THE ONE (or pay). So here is the new living room.

We also got Rachel an early Christmas present, which we have been enjoying for the past month or two. You've got to admit, some presents are just too exciting to wait for. Especially when there are football and Jazz games to be watched. This makes it a little easier to see than the other tv we had been using.

And for those of you who have never been able to visit I thought I would post a picture of our, well, Rachel's house, in which we currently reside. Thanks Rachel!
We are right across from the club house, pool and hot tub (which unfortunately is not in operation during the winter months)
And finally, here's is our Christmas tree. We got it over thanksgiving with my family and brought it back to Utah in our trunk. It fell over twice while we were attempting to set it up, breaking a few ornaments and landing on one of Rachel's friends, but eventually we won and the tree now stays up all by itself. Now if finals would just end we could sit by the tree sipping hot chocolate and watching a Christmas movie. Fortunately the countdown has begun.

Holidays

2010-12-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

So I am behind again. What's new. It always takes me forever to post. I apologize about that. And as a consequence My posts are always super long. I'll try not to be too boring.

First... Halloween. We have nothing to make costumes with. So we usually don't dress up. But we had to go to our ward trunk or treat so this is the best we came up with. I made a superman shield with permanent marker and highlighter, we taped it to a blue shirt, had Karl wear his glasses and Voila... Clark Kent/Superman. So of course I had to be Lois Lane. I know I look nothing like her but it works. Nice quick and easy costume. As for the pose, we obviously watch too much Lois and Clark (but it is an awesome Superman tv series).
Then on actual Halloween we got together with some friends to make root beer, carve pumpkins, and watch a movie. I got to do the stirring.
Karl and Nic decided to have a steam war. Nic won pretty much every time.And here are mine and Karl's finished pumpkins. Guess who's is which. (I LOVE Batman. While I was making a superman shield I did a batman symbol too. I figure all black and that would be a super easy costume too.)

And now for thanksgiving. Karl and I decided on Tuesday that we would rather try to beat the storm to Nevada than deal with the after effects on Wednesday. So as soon as I got home from clinical we threw our clothes in a suitcase, loaded up the car, and took off (unfortunately I forgot my camera so there aren't any pictures). We didn't hit any bad weather. Not the case on our way home. It took us 8 hours to get back to Draper and our average MPH was about 30. But we made it.

We played a lot of sports while we were there. Made and ate TONS of great food. Got to relax and hang out, and did our Thanksgiving tradition of going Christmas tree hunting on Friday. Karl and I even found a little tree to bring back with us. I hope we keep that tradition. It's a fun, cheap, all day family event. I love it.

But I think one of the most entertaining parts of the trip was our Saturday night game of Disney Charades. It's fun for everyone but I just love watching Tay. He thinks that if he looks just like the card everyone will understand what he is. My favorite was his little mermaid impression. He studied the card for like 3 minutes. After laying on his stomach he studied the card again to make sure he was just right, then turned his head dramatically to look at us and... smiled. Ok, you had to be there, but it was hilarious. After some coaching he did really well with all his cards, but you had to let him try first just to see what he would do. I can't do it justice with words. Over Christmas I'll try to get a video, but if you ever get a chance to play charades with Tay DON'T pass it up. He is one funny kid.

BEST (and first) Fall Break EVER! Part 2

2010-11-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

I apologize in advance. This is another super long post but I wanted to show everyone the pictures. First off, here's the "cabin" we stayed at. It is huge!It comes complete with an upper pond and hot tub. The water was FREEZING! We jumped in off the dock and then ran to the hot tub to get warm. Fun but cold. We also we canoeing on the lower pond. That's where the boys were moving the rocks.

Here's a view of the house and surrounding area. Lots of pasture land.

And here's a side view of the house. Now for the fun part, the rooms. This was ours. We were in the Ranch House. So we basically had our own apartment in the basement. Complete with living room and kitchen. Next is the theater room. Those couches were so comfy. We watched a lot of movies. I totally recommend "North and South". The British movie, not civil war series. It's long, but great.

Waking up Nic. We wanted to explore.
The house had so much detail. Each room had a different theme. I just loved this tub. But I have to admit this one is pretty awesome. And the faucets that went with it were pretty sweet.

This is the bear room. The head boards are so fun but the beds themselves were really narrow. This is the bunk house.
The best part of this room was the loft with all the toys.

As you can see we had a lot of fun.
There was also a window that overlooked the walkway. Karl and Nic had fun trying to shoot me. And I have to admit I ambushed them a bit too.
And Nic started modeling the bison hide for us.
This is the entry way. Notice all the wood? I got to help stack all the rooms to prepare for winter. It was fun, but there are a lot of fireplaces in that house. (And I look like a ghost in the picture. Could I be any whiter?)
Besides the hikes, exploring, watching movies, helping out, and hanging in the hot tub we also blew fire! It was a little scary, the first time I tried I about inhaled it. That wouldn't have been good, but I learned the next time around. This last picture is just a beautiful sunrise. It was like the perfect end to the perfect trip. Thanks Yarringtons!

BEST (and first) Fall Break EVER! Part 1

2010-11-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

This October Karl and I were able to discover one of the best inventions in college history. Fall Break. Getting a few days off in the middle of the semester to do something fun really helps rejuvenate you and get you through til finals. Karl didn't really get a fall break, thanks to BYU, but he took one anyways. We went up to Idaho with our friends the Yarrington's and hung out at a "cabin". The rest will be told in pictures.

We went on a lot of four wheeler adventures (as you can tell it got a bit cold)On one we found an abandoned cabin. Of course we had to investigate.
There was a "shower" and bedroom on one side (complete with gun rack overhead)
And kitchen/storage room on the other.
Karl found the outhouse and had to take a peek.
Poor Nic was working so hard he couldn't come with us. So we decided to help. Actually, Karl helped. I supervised.
The rocks were so HEAVY! Probably around 300 pounds (so they tell me. I wasn't about to try and lift one to see if they were right) After getting stuck in a few places They finally made it. (The rock ended up partway in the water and looked great. Yay for landscape design.) Then they got smart and used a wheelbarrow.

On our next adventure we found the old dredge. That thing is HUGE!
We also found an old ghost town. Custer City. You can see where the boys were headed.
I on the other hand, ended up in jail. Karl G. Maeser style.
We decided this was a hands on exhibit and tried a few things out. Too bad we couldn't tell what half the stuff was.On the other side of the valley we found an old mine. Unfortunately we were blocked. But we got to test out the old mine cart track. Karl tried to kill me and got splinters. Serves him right.
We also went exploring in "The Drunk Goat" and went on a hike to a lake.
Karl started testing out his skills. This brought back bad memories from Keel's class in high school. (Does anyone else remember the javelin scenes from "Worst Sports Bloopers"?)
But we finally made it to the top. Nic apparently couldn't keep from singing and the two of them got a little too close on this trip.
But have no fear, I got him back.
It really was a great trip full of beautiful hikes, fun adventures, gorgeous views, and lots of food. I didn't put any pictures of the "cabin". Those will be coming along with a few other stories from the trip. Hope the post wasn't too long!

The BIG Decision

2010-10-20T11:43:00.001-07:00

All of Karl's hard work and studying in school has paid off. The week after his interview in Tennessee Karl was off to Oregon for another one. He was accepted at both so then came the hard part. Deciding where to go.

Don't get me wrong. I much prefer trying to figure out which school to go to instead of what do we do now that we didn't get accepted. But I am not very good at making decisions so this was a bit rough on me. Both schools have great programs and great things about them but in the end we decided that the school for us is...
Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. It's a small town of about 21,000 people and its focal point is the college itself. The optometry program was established in 1945 so they really know what they are doing. They have clinics in Forest Grove as well as Portland, which is about 45 minutes away. They also have a hospital, which is great for me, and if I can't get a job there Portland isn't that far. Special bonus: Optometrists can do a one year residency program to specialize if they want. Pacific offers a program in Langley, British Columbia. Wish me luck trying to convince Karl to let us live in Canada for a year.The weather usually doesn't get above 85 or below 30. There are lots of cloudy days and rain but that just makes everything green and beautiful. We will be right next the Tillamook State Forest so that means we should have lots of opportunities to hike and test out our new tent.
This is a picture of University Falls in the forest. You can help me find it if you come and visit.
Forest Grove is also about an hour from the beach. It should be a gorgeous drive too since you have to go through the forest to get there.
Karl starts school in the fall of 2011 and I will be joining him in January 2012 after I finish my nursing degree at Utah Valley University. Those four months won't be fun but it will be easier to see him in Oregon than if he was in Tennessee. Count your many blessings right?
So all in all we are really excited and can't wait to start this new chapter of our lives.

And Life Rolls On

2010-09-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

This summer Karl was able to apply for Optometry Schools. His application was really strong and he decided to only apply to three schools to try and keep costs down. Two that he was seriously considering (Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee and Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon) and one as a back up (Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona.) He received invitations to both of the schools he was serious about and is still waiting to hear from the back up school. (To me this just confirms that that school is not for us. They are new and still pretty unorganized by the look of things.) So last weekend Karl went to his first interview all the way in Tennessee. I've never been there so here is a picture of downtown. (Apparently they have their own Luxor, or look-a-like. It will be just like home.) Here's a picture of the school and Eye Center, which is supposed to be amazing for the clinicals. The school is purely an optometry school, so no sharing equipment with medical students. It is supposed to be a really great, and competitive, program. I was a bit worried for Karl though. Apparently his hotel was in the ghetto bad side of town. If we go there we will be sure to stay clear of that area. But he survived and make it back to me alive. He found out on Wednesday, not even a week later, that he has been officially accepted!!! I am so proud of him. He has his interview in Oregon this weekend and will hopefully hear back from them in the next few weeks. So we are not on our way to Tennesse yet, but it's officially a possibility.

The Green Bug is Back

2010-09-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Last semester we did our nursing clinicals at a nursing home. I got to work with this old man with dementia. He would tell me the same stories over and over, verbatim. And everytime I would walk into his room he would say "The Greeeen Buug. Your hair's on fire." He was such a sweet heart. So now clinicals are back and so are the green scrubs. This time however, we are in the hospital.

I get to go to American Fork, which is really nice because it is a lot closer to home than Provo, especially at 5:45 in the morning. This week I was in the med/surg unit. I really lucked out. My nurse was great and the patients were so nice. I want to adopt one of them as a grandma. She was so much fun. I really enjoyed myself and got to do a lot of new things. I gave some shots, which I have practiced on an orange but these were my first human injections. And insert a catheter. That was an experience. You couldn't see where it was even supposed to go because the patients anatomy was a little different. But I was successful so it was a great experience. Next week I'm in the ER so we'll see how that goes. It should be a little more intense and exciting. Wish me luck!

Rest of Yellowstone

2010-09-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

Here's the rest of our trip. The second day we took it really slow. Visited the mud pots and then went into west yellowstone for the day. It was nice to just be able to relax and hang out together. The last day we saw the coolest stuff (of course. It was Karl's day to choose). And of course that was the day we forgot the camera. So all we had was my cell phone to document the gorgeous hike up Mt. Washburn. The three grizzly bears. The buffalo jam. There were seriously about 600 bison in one area (I had plenty of time to count) and they kept deciding they wanted to cross the road. It wasn't that bad if they were right in front of you so you had a good view. And of course, the gorgeous falls.
If you go to Yellowstone make sure you take Uncle Tom's trail. It gives you the best view of the lower falls. Karl loved the stairs. He's a bit afraid of heights and the fact that you can see through the steps to the ground WAY below made it interesting. We made sure to rest at the bottom. But it was well worth it. Other than that we hung out at the tent, made s'mores, and watched Karl extinguish the spontaneous flames that came from the camp stove. All in all it was a great trip.

Yellowstone Day 1

2010-08-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

Karl and I were able to go to Yellowstone as another escape between semesters. I absolutely loved it. The weather was great, there was tons to see, and I got to be alone with Karl on a vacation. It doesn't get much better than that. The first day we got there we hit Old Faithful and all the geyser basins around there. (My suggestion: If you go to Yellowstone hit this on your last day. Those are by far the prettiest pools. The others are great too, but you'll be more impressed if you see everything else first.) I discovered that Karl has no love for Old Faithful. He thinks its a bit over rated and just doesn't like waiting for it. I have to admit I was a little bored too, we only waited like ten minutes, but I thought it was really cool to see. It's amazing that it is so predictable and that the water can shoot up so high.

We also saw a lot of beautiful pools.Spouting WaterWildlifeSteaming Hills And Italians. I swear we ran into about 10 different groups a day. I could always tell when we were close to some because Karl would linger. Usually we would walk around pretty quick to try and see everything. But when Karl started taking his time looking at a pool or started fidgeting with the camera you could bet there were Italians near by. He was in heaven when he got to talk to them. So it was a win-win situation. I got to look for all the geysers and Karl got to look for all the Italians. I swear the whole country came over the few days we were there because we ran into them wherever we went.

Then we just got to enjoy being at our campsite, eating tin foil dinners and having a huge tent that we could actually stand up in; a big step up from our usual two man pup tent. All in all, it was a great first day.

Our Car Got Crunched

2010-08-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday Karl has work down in Provo. I decided that I really wanted to play racquetball with him when he was done so I went down too. I was going to go visit a friend while he was working and then we would play. So we get to Provo and Karl tells me to wait five minutes before I left, apparently this was in case I needed to take him to the baseball field. I thought he was for sure going to come back. So I just sat in the car reading my book while I waited for him. After about 10 minutes I decide he's not coming back so I start getting ready to leave. I had my door open because it was pretty hot in the car. It was then that I noticed a car was approaching and had started to turn towards the empty spot next to me. I went to close the door so she could get in when ... CRUNCH. She completely ran into my door, making the bottom buckled in like it was play dough. Upon further inspection the door would not close, you had to lift it up and push really hard to make it stay partly shut. The girl apparently thought she had enough room and was in a hurry to get to her education week classes. So Karl and I are now in a rental car, ours has been towed away, and we are awaiting the final verdict on what they are going to do. The girls insurance will either pay for the repairs or just give us some money. So that was my first real car accident. And I was just sitting in a parking lot.

Final Days at BYU

2010-08-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

Reading Days have always been a bit difficult for me. I know they are designed to give you a whole day to study, but to me they end up being a whole day to put off studying and have fun. I've gotten a bit better at fighting this temptation in my old(er) age but I still have a ways to go. I remember freshman year I spent my reading days laser tagging with Karl and some friends, hanging out, playing card games, and, in general, not picking up a book.

(Here's another semester's reading day. We were gathering supplies to pack up all our stuff. And yes, we are in a dumpster. I would just like to clarify it was cardboard only.)

Yesterday was a bit better. I studied off and on (between napping and reading for fun), and Karl and I spent some time at the pool. It was amazing.

So now finals are done! At least mine are. They were all in one day. I was finished with mine before Karl even got to take one. So I am unofficially done at BYU. I pretty much have my bachelors degree in Human Development (as long as I passed my classes). It's a little sad. I know I complain about school, and honestly it really does stress me out, but I have loved being a student at Brigham Young University.

There is just a different feel to campus. I know some people hate the Y and call Provo a bubble and "Happy Valley" but I love it. BYU really does have a special spirit that you don't get anywhere else. I didn't think the UVU was that bad, and it's not, but when I got to go back to BYU for the summer I realized just how much I missed it, how relieved and at peace I felt (which is saying something because usually being at school makes me stressed).
So BYU, we've had our good time (like meeting the love of my life) and our bad times (like being egged my freshman year on the worst night of my life) but all in all it's been amazing. I'll miss ya.

Jordanelle

2010-08-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday we went out to Jordanelle with Karl's family. Everyone was able to make it except for Kirsten who couldn't get work off (we missed you Kirsten). It was so much fun. Tony rented a wave runner for the day and we all took turns going out. I got to be the test dummy for the tube. Karl informed me that we wouldn't be able to go very fast with two people on the wave runner and someone on the tube so I should just go out there and relax. So I trusted him. It was a little chilly and I didn't want to get in the water but I've always like tubing so I thought it would be nice. He starts pulling me and it's great, I'm able to just enjoy the view and the occasional spray of the wake. Suddenly it's getting harder and harder to hold on and yep, you guessed it, I got flipped in. Apparently it was possible to go fast with two people and a tube and Karl couldn't resist. So we went a few more times but after I flew about 5 feet in the air off of one jump I was done for awhile.

It was really fun being able to just hang out with everyone and play with the kids. Karl, James, McKenzie and I went out for a ride so James and Kenzie could go tubing. We discovered that Kenzie really doesn't like to go fast and doesn't really like going all the way under the water. We were trying to make James ride interesting so we were going pretty fast (despite Kenzie constantly telling us to slow down. Sorry Kenzie) and we were approaching some big waves. Karl tried to slow down so it wouldn't be so bumpy and the next thing we knew we were underwater. The wave had gone over the top of all three of us. Kenzie did NOT like that. I was scared she was going to cry but she just said she didn't want to do that again.

All in all it was a great day in the sun. Karl and I both got sunburned (I was a lot worse than him obviously. I really hope our kids get his complexion). I couldn't really walk for the next few day, but it was worth it. Now if the peeling would just stop...

Thanks for such a great day Jepsons!

Quilting Distress

2010-08-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make a quilt for awhile. When Cami told me about a fabric sale online I couldn't help myself. I picked out some fabric and I got it. The problem with online means I don't actually get to see the fabric before I get it. I ordered 6 different fabrics so I could do squares of blue and brown. Half of my fabrics were different than I was planning. One looked about the same, the print was just a lot bigger than I was expecting. Another I thought was blue with thin light purple stripes for more color, but alas no. It was just light blue stripes, but I still like it so that was fine. The other fabric however, I'm not even sure if I can use. I thought it was a dark brown with cream flowers. Instead it is a red, chestnut brown with a weird green. The brown doesn't match anything and I have no other green in the quilt. So I'm a little stumped as to what to do with that one.
Anyways, now is the dilemma of how to design the quilt. Here are a few of my ideas. Tell me what you think. I'm horrible at making decisions.

Karl said he liked bigger squares than the small ones so here's one with big squares only. But he said he didn't really care as long as the back was just one color. The backing is going to be the darker blue and I was planning on using it for the binding as well. So here are two other options that have more varied sized squares.

One that's random. (By the way, the square on this one have the fabric designs more in proportion. See how the tan one with cat-tailish flowers has such a big print)And one with more of a patternIf you have an opinion of which one you think is better or if none of them are very good please let me know. I've never been very good at designing or making things look cute. Please help!

Demolition Derby

2010-07-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (I know, I am really bad at keeping up with what is actually going on in our lives) Karl and I went to a demolition derby with Nick and our friend Driscoll. Nick had told us about it about a month in advance and I was soooo excited to go. I think I asked Karl every week if we could go get tickets because I was scared it would sell out and we wouldn't be able to go. Fortunately we got the tickets but it was a sold out event.

It is amazing how entertaining it can be to watch cars crash into each other. It is just grown up bumper cars, but it is awesome. For those of you who haven't gone I totally recommend it, just bring something to do in between the rounds because that can take awhile. They have to clear out the totaled cars and give the drivers enough time to try and fix them up. After awhile they start looking like this.Anyways, the best crash was in the last round. About five of the cars were chasing each other to our corner and one got hit so hard, so many times that it ended up on the cement barrier. I wish I had been able to get that one on video but I never was quite able to capture the action on tape.So all in all it was a great night. I am now a fan of demolition derby's. I don't know why it took me this long and living in a city to go to one, but I think I might be hooked.

Goodbye Cutest Blog on the Block

2010-07-24T18:30:00.001-07:00

It happened again. This time I was going to look at my sister in law's blog and her background had disappeared. So I check mine and, go figure, it's gone again too. So I have decided it is time to move on. I am done with The Cutest Blog on the Block backgrounds and have moved on to Delightful Dots. Please don't let me down.

My world is being erased

2010-07-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Woke up on Thursday and was planning on being good. I was going to go exercise and then clean a bit before I started on homework. All started out grand. I got up, got ready, went to put more of my book on my ipod and something went wrong. In the middle of importing a few chapters it suddenly stopped, said there was an error and I watched all of my songs disappear. My ipod was completely wiped clean. This wouldn't have been a big deal except the same thing had happened to my itunes last christmas. So I have none of my songs saved and they are all officially gone. Fortunately I use my ipod more to listen to books now than music and I still had a few of those on my itunes so I am not completely without something to listen to.

Then today I looked at my blog. I was just going to look at my blog list (that took me forever to figure out how to put on. Thanks Chelle) to see if anyone had written anything new. I get to the site and my background has been erased. Since the writing was cream I can't read a thing. I wonder how long that's been going on. I had saved a list of blog backgrounds so if I wanted to change it again it wouldn't take me as long. So I found that one again and just tried to put it back on, I figured I had just done something weird the last time I was on, but no. The background I had been using has apparently ceased to exist, along with a few of my other options for backgrounds.

It's not a big deal or anything, I just find it extremely bizarre that my world is being erased one piece of media at a time.

Moab: Land of Adventure

2010-07-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

Between spring and summer term Karl and I had about two days off. So on that Thursday we decided that we were going to go camping in Moab and leave at 6 the next day. We got everything ready and loaded up in the car and Friday morning, bright and early, we took off to Moab. When we go on vacation we are usually heading south on I-15 to see my family or go to California, which I love, but it was nice to have a change of scenery. We went found a campsite and then went straight to Arches National Park to hike around. Just to let everyone know how hopelessly white I am, I was sunburned before I even got out of the car. I didn't put on sunscreen because I was hoping I would get a tan but the result was that I was just in pain for the next week.Karl and I first went to the Delicate Arch. I figured if I was going to have that thing on my license plate I wanted to see it in person. It was a nice hike but the best part was when we were getting our picture taken. Every time we walked by people speaking a different language Karl would listen really hard to see if it was Italian. No luck the entire way up. Then I went to ask someone to take our picture and he ignored me. So Karl went up to ask him and as he was taking the picture his friends came back. What were they speaking? Italian of course. So Karl is all excited and starts talking to them. They are from one of the cities that he served in and they are all chatting away. I'm just standing there smiling and trying to follow the conversation but once they stopped talking about cities I was lost. I was so glad we ran into them though. They were nice and Karl got to practice. I think it made his day.That evening we walked around the town, went out for gelato (one of the benefits of having an Italian missionary for a husband, besides his amazing pasta, is that he is willing to search out and try gelato places), and tried to figure out how we were going to go rafting the next day. We had brought up a raft but needed to find a way to get up to the launch site so we could leave our car at take out beach. The next morning we finally got things figured out, loaded up the car and headed up the canyon. Karl was going to drop me off, I was going to blow up the raft and he was going to take a taxi back up. The whole drive to the launch point we were looking at the river and getting more and more excited that we were going to be rafting down it. It was about a 15 minute drive with the excitement mounting every second. We are finally at launch point, pull out the raft and.... all we have are the oars, the pump, and inflatable seats. The actual boat apparently got left back in Riverton.

We were so depressed. We just threw everything back in the car and headed home. We had been so excited, had been looking forward to it all day, and our dreams were crushed. So our trip didn't quite go as planned. But we now know places to stay, how to work the river, where the good gelato place it, and basically have everything pegged for the next time we go. I am really, really, really hoping it is sometime soon.

I love to Sew

2010-07-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

This past Spring term I decided to take sewing. I only had 12 credits left for my major and decided sewing was a skill I really wanted to learn and would be worth having to take 9 credits in a 6 week term. I was right.

I was in Media and the Family (which was an amazing class) and sewing. The 9 credit torture semester is currently going on (I'll let you know if I survive). I sort of had a love/ hate relationship with sewing. I would get really frustrated when I inevitably spent three times as long taking stitches out as I did putting them in, but it was so much fun to actually learn how to make things.

When all was said and done I had made pajama pants, a skirt, a button up shirt, and a sun dress. (Pictures are on the way). So it was a great class but unfortunately it made me a little to ambitous. i now have tons of craft ideas and aspire to make a quilt and a swimsuit. Oh well. Someday.

Traditions

2010-06-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking of how bizzare some traditions are. I mean, who decided that it would be a good idea to eat year-old cake as a way to celebrate being married? Would you want to save any of your other leftovers for a year and then see how they tasted? Just a thought. So here's a picture (I know, I look disgusting. Please overlook that.) of us commemorating a year with freezer burnt cake. Our cake actually still tasted pretty good but I'm thinking that if that tradition is going to continue it should be modified to like one month or one week instead of one year.

San Fransisco (a long time ago)

2010-06-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

I know this is super late but I figure better late than never. Over Christmas break Karl and I went with my family to San Fransisco. It was a long, cramped ride, but it was a lot of fun. I love the bridges and fell in love with the city as soon as we got there.

My little sister was on crutches so we did a bus tour around the city. I loved it. We got to hear about the history of the city and scout out places we really wanted to check out. Some of us found it a little more interesting than others. We were able to go across the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Peir 39, the Cable Car Museum, the Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory, China Town (love the architecture), and all around Little Italy (you gotta love gelato).We saw a lot of things but I have a whole list of things we need to get around to the next time. On the top of which is Alcatraz. The tours were all sold out so next time we are going to have to go. Some of my favorite things were probably driving down Lombard Street. Finding the Full House house (do you know which one it is?)And just spending time exploring with Karl. But the highlight of the trip was Wicked. I LOVE Wicked. I've been listening to the songs for years, know them all by heart, and I was finally able to see the play. The best thing about musicals is that the music tells the story. So I love getting the music and trying to figure out the story before I ever see the play. It was great getting to compare what I thought was going to happen with what actually did. Oh it was amazing. I totally recommend it. Karl doesn't always love plays or musicals but he actually like this one.

So that was our trip in a nutshell.

My Little Bro

2010-06-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

This is a post from my media blog (for my class) so the reference to media may be weird but bare with me. I am really starting to love analyzing media and how it influences me life.

This weekend I was able to go home to Nevada for one of my best friends weddings. It was great to be back and see my family, even if it was a really quick trip and I didn't get to see them a ton. I promise there is a media aspect to this but first I need to give a little background. My brother Taylor is 17 years old and has down syndrome. Right before my wedding in December 2008 he started having a lot of health problems, including being diagnosed with Graves Disease and Celiac disease. In March he had to undergo Radioactive Iodine Therapy because his body was not responding well to Medicine. As you can imagine having a radioactive isotope in your body can make you pretty sick. He was finally feeling a little better and headed into the doctors for his yearly check up with his cardiologist when they found two clots in his heart. They immediately hospitalized him and that night he had a stroke. It was a blessing that he had that doctors appointment and that he was with people who could help him when it happened. After months of rehabilitation he is finally home and doing pretty great.

So this past weekend was the first time I had seen him since the week before the stroke when I happened to be down there for spring break. I saw him and thought everything was completely normal. He looked just the same as the last time I had seen him. Then that night we played Rock Band. Taylor was on the guitar at first. I was trying hard not to die at drums so I didn't really pay attention but sort of noticed Tay was only holding playing the guitar with one hand. He's always been a performer so I thought that was him trying to put on a show and dance. Then we switched and he went to drums. My dad said Tay needs encouragement to use his left arm so I told him to play with both hands, not really thinking about it. Part way through the song I noticed one stick was on the ground. We stopped the song and I told Tay to pick it up because he needed to play with both hands. What I saw made me want to cry. Tay tried to pick up the other stick but it took him almost a fill minute. We started again and after two slows hits with his left drumstick it fell to the ground. He couldn't hold it. His hand doesn't really work. It about broke my heart. My little brother, the sweetest kid in the world, wasn't back to normal like I thought. It was a reminder to me that the stroke was real and how lucky I was that He was still with us. I know this sounds weird but Rock band really made me stop and evaluate how blessed I have been to be surrounded by such amazing people in my life. Below is a picture of Taylor between a friend and my husband Karl (Karl's the tall, dark, and handsome one). So, when you can, take a moment to thank Heavenly Father for all the people and blessings you have in your life; and like my dad always says "Stop and smell the roses"

Fishing

2010-05-31T12:32:00.000-07:00

Fish: Slippery, slimy, smelly, and gross. Why would anyone want to go fishing? Because it is a blast!

Me, Karl and Nick have gone fishing twice in the past two weeks and it was really fun. The first time Nick was the only one who caught a fish. It was FREEZING and even started snowing on us. Needless to say I headed back to the truck before the guys. Then this past Saturday we went again.

This time we left at 6 and went up to Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon. I recommend it if just for the ride up. I'm glad we were in Nick's car with 4-wheel drive though and not our little Nissan. It was a pretty narrow rocky steep road but it was really fun. When we got to the lake it was freezing again but we were a little more prepared. At least it wasn't snowing so that was a plus. This time Karl was catching fish like crazy! For awhile there he would cast and within 30 seconds the fish would be nibbling. It was nuts. He ended up catching about 11 fish in one trip. Nick and I scrounged up 3 between the two of us but Karl was by far the winner. (My excuse...Me and Nick took a break while the fish were biting like crazy to try and warm up. Plus Karl needed someone to put on his worms and take of the fish because his hands were frozen and numb). It couldn't have been a more beautiful day. Now we just need it to warm up a little bit.

So despite the fact that I really really REALLY don't like eating fish (although Tony did a great job cooking them) I think I'll just stick to catch and release.

Memory Lane

2010-05-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Today I spent about 5 hours on the computer and I feel like I was actually being productive for most of the time. I decided that it would be a good idea to make back up copies of all our pictures. One of our computers died awhile ago and I'm not sure if we lost the pictures on there but I really didn't want that happening to our other pics if I could help it. So I spent the day sorting through pictures. Coping them onto CD's. And trying to find ones that had been lost. It was really fun going through so many old memories. I think my favorite part was watching all the videos. Karl and I have had so much fun together. It's rededicated me to wanting to take pictures. It was a blast reliving some of those moments, like the attack of the squirrel eating bird, Karl trying to kill me with firecrackers, and watching Karl talk to a cute little Mexican girl on our honeymoon (he's such a sweetie). So if it's been awhile since you dusted off your old photo albums maybe it's time to crack them open. Memory Lane is a great place to visit.

Jealousness and the In-Betweens

2010-04-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

So here I am, a week away from finals. Normally this would bring a great feeling of accomplishment or at least relief that the semester is almost over. But no. Instead I am feeling intensely jealous of my husband who only has one more test until he is done. Lucky duck. And here I am, stuck in the in-betweens. I don't really have any more assignments to work on and it is too early to start studying for finals. I have a very short term memory so starting now would just give me a false sense of security, resulting in failing my tests.

So what am I doing? Besides being jealous of Karl, I am almost done with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (completion time: approximately 15 minutes). Will probably start listening to the Prisoner of Azkaban. Am attempting to reread the Hunger Games in a day (I just finished it a week or two ago for the first time. I highly recommend it). And am running out of things with which to distract myself. But I love it. I haven't had this much time to read (or at least made this much time to read) in years.

Taylor

2010-03-24T14:59:00.001-07:00

I apologize in advance that this post is really long.

So this past week was Spring Break at UVU. It is the first time I have had spring break in four years. It was soooo nice to not have to go class. Unfortunately Karl didn't get a break. He still had to be responsible and go to school. So for spring break I went home to Nevada to visit my family and try to help out with everything that was going on. So for those who didn't get the whole story I thought I'd do an update on how Taylor is doing. At least what I know, which isn't tons.

In 2008 Taylor was diagnosed with Celiac disease (which means he can't eat glutten which is in flour and makes things hard) and Graves disease (hyperthyroidism). This all happened just before me and Karl got married and on top of that Tay ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. My parents are amazing for pulling all that off. Anyways, Tay has been on medicine to try and regulate his thyroid but whenever he goes on meds to slow it down he would flip to hypothyroidism, so they would try to speed it up and he would go back hyper. His turn over rate was way faster than it should be so they decided to try and do radioactive iodine (hereafter refered to as RI) therapy to just kill his thyroid so it would be easier to regulate his condition.

He was able to get this done last week while I was down there. I am such a nerd. I thought it was so cool that I got to watch Tay's scan and practice taking heart rates and blood pressures that weren't 120/80. That was a little scary though. Tay's heart rate was around 120 every time I took it and his blood pressure it was around 160/70. But I am really starting to think that I like nursing so that is good. Anyways.We went into Vegas on Wednesday to do a scan, then again Thursday morning for another one. After waiting around for a few hours (good thing March Madness had started) they were able to give him the RI to kill the thyroid. The dose was just low enough that he could come home (29.9 mg and max dose is 30 mg). He would just have to stay in his room so he wouldn't contaminate everyone else.

We got him home and he was doing really well. Then on Friday he started dry heaving (apparently nausea is a very rare side effect that no one told us about and Tay was lucky enough to get it). He wouldn't eat or drink anything. He just layed in bed all day (which is not normal for Tay. He didn't even want to play America's Funniest Home Videos, which is his favorite game.) By the end of the day he was throwing up, still wouldn't eat and ended up in the hospital. He came back Saturday morning super hydrated from being on an IV all night. He did a lot better, even managed a bite of apple sauce. But then that night he started throwing up again. All night. In the morning my dad was trying to get him to drink something. He told that that if he didn't drink and eat his ice chips he was going to have to go to the hospital. Tay just looked at him and said "Dad, those are two really bad choices." So he ended back in the hospital to stay Sunday afternoon.

But after being in there he started doing a lot better. They were able monitor him, keep an IV in so he wouldn't throw up everytime he took a sip of water, and give him meds to slow his heart rate and regulate his blood pressure. The official diagnosis--Thyrotoxicosis. Not for sure what that is but I am assuming he has toxic levels of thyroid hormones. Once they figured that out they were able to help him more.

He had to stay a little longer than expected because his blood pressure wouldn't stabalize but he is home now. Just got back this afternoon. He really is such a special kid. He never complains. Whenever I would ask how he was feeling it was either "Just great" "I feel better now (even when his didn't)" or "I'm ok". When he was constantly throwing up he just kept telling my mom that he was so sorry. I am so grateful he is a part of my family. He is just amazing.

So he is home now and he is doing a lot better. It was quite the Sping Break. I'm hoping the next one isn't quite as eventful.

Church Ball Madness

2010-03-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

When I think March Madness I think about everyone excited to watch tons of basketball, games always on TV, fun brackets to fill out, and plenty of excuses to make treats (come on, you have to have something to munch on during the games). Church ball is pretty much the last thing I would have thought but apparently it fits right it, just not in the fun way.

I'm not really the biggest fan of Church ball because sometimes it gets crazy. I'm always scared Karl is going to get hurt so I just cringe the whole time. Fouls aren't the most consistent or just don't exist(depending on the ref). But I guess that is just part of the experience. But I swear basketball just has a way of bringing out the worst in people, or at least most of us. I swear Karl is immune to anger, he hardly lets anything phase him. The other people on the team and sideline, myself included, are not so fortunate. Last night was just another testament of that.

The end of the game was close and both sides were getting frustrated. There were a lot of fouls, a lot shoving, and I was just staring at the clock wishing the game would end so only two players (both on Karl's team) would be leaving with blood stains and Karl wouldn't be next. With not even a minute left I was reminded as to why I am not always a big fan of basketball. The refs made a call and the other team didn't like it.

Side note: I have no idea why anyone in their right mind would want to be a ref. No matter what you call people hate you. Even if you were somehow able to call a perfect game people still don't like you. It just seems like a no win situation. Back to my story.

So they made a call and the other team went crazy! They were screaming at the ref from the court, the bench, and even the spectators were getting in on it. I couldn't believe it. Confession, I don't always agree with the ref, in fact I rarely do. But that doesn't give you license to yell across the gym at them. We were in a church for crying out loud. And the refs are just volunteers. At least professionals get paid to have people hate them. It was ridiculous. So the refs caved and changed their call. Our team ended up losing by two. I was just glad it ended.

But the whole point of this is that I am so impressed with Karl and James. They were both frustrated about the calls and how the game went but they didn't freak out or get angry. Karl was talking about the game on the way home, about different plays and calls, but he wasn't angry or upset, he didn't bash the refs or the other team. He just took it all. Cami has said the same thing about James. I think it must be a Jepson gene. I'm more on the opposite end of the spectrum but I'm working on it. So I'd just like to say thanks you guys for your good examples and Karl, thanks for being such a good influence on me. I don't know where I'd be without you.

Valentine's Week Fun

2010-03-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

I have decided I love Valentine's Day landing on Sunday. It makes it last so much longer. On Saturday Karl and I were able to go "help out" at Love is Blind, a fundraiser Tony organized for UFB. Our "help" consisted of checking people in and directing them to their seats. Then we were able to join in the fun. Just for the record, eating blindfolded is HARD!!! I have so much more respect for the visually impaired. I felt like I was going to knock my cup over every time I went for a drink. Half the time I thought I had something on my fork and ended up with nothing. And when something did end up in my mouth I was always surprised at what I was eating and got half of it smeared all over my face. Needless to say I think I need more practice. But it was really fun and a good experience. I highly recommend that as a date. Just make dinner and then eat blindfolded (make sure to peak every once in awhile because it is pretty funny to watch other people struggle just as much as you are). It will make for a very entertaining evening.

On the actual Sunday of Valentine's Day Karl was so cute. He got me a bag of suckers that had five clues in it. The clues were for dates for the rest of the week, but I had to figure them out by the end of the day or we couldn't do them. The end result was this...

After discovering "what President Monson would take and where he would go if there was a big leak we ended up at the Hogle Zoo. I had never been and it was a blast. Here are a few fun facts I gleaned. Scorpions glow under black lights (better file that one away for my next trip to Nevada. I hate those things), chimps like to play hide and seek, and if you are actively being attacked by a bear use anything available to try and defend yourself (now why didn't I think of that?). Here are a few pictures to go along with it.

Karl was getting in touch with his inner bat.

They have an amazing kids area. I fit right in.

The chimp was playing hide and seek in the sheets. Guess they like their privacy too.

These are the biggest turtles I have ever seen. They get to about 500 pounds and live to be about 200 years. CRAZY!!

And here is the gross giraffe. It was getting close and personal when giraffe 2 started going to the bathroom. At first giraffe 1 looked really grossed out, then after a minute it went back for seconds. Can anyone say disgusting?

So all in all it was a very interesting trip. It rained the whole time we were there but it was nice because it kept the crowds small. I loved being able to just spend time with Karl. School keeps us both busy so it was great to just relax.

Who knew?

2010-01-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

Who knew transferring schools would be so complicated? I have been in school for almost a month and finally finished jumping through all the hoops (knock on wood). I thought that getting into the school and being accepted into the nursing program would be the hard part but that was just the beginning. There was also:

Meeting with an academic adviser and filing a petition to switch my major. That is what happens when you wait til you are a senior.

Filling out an application to defer a semester, which included getting an ecclesiastical endorsement.

And transferring my financial aid. That was the toughest one. The advisers at the different schools kept telling me different things that I needed to do. I had to go in person to try and cancel my aid and BYU which resulted in them revoking my financial aid from fall semester. So I got to go back in to get that fixed. Turn in multiple copies of my high school transcript. Track down confirmation of cancellation at BYU. Send in another college transcript. And FINALLY, after about 15 visits to the different offices, I am done. At least I hope so. Just waiting on the financial aid reimbursement which should be coming to my account in the next few days.

So the beginning of this semester has been a little hectic, busy, and stressful. Those three things took five weeks to resolve, but I have kind of liked it. I love having things to do and planning (I know I am lame but I think check lists are the coolest things ever). My plans had to change daily for awhile there, but now everything has settled down, hopefully worked out, and there is nothing left to worry about except school.

Tests here I come!

My Firsts of 2009

2010-01-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

I know probably would have been a little more appropriate if I had put this up before New Years but I have been thinking about this past year and realized that not only were there quite a few changes in my life, but a lot of firsts too. So I made a list and I'm going to share a few.

So here are my firsts:

1. New Years Kiss (This may not seem like a big deal but it was pretty nice for me)
2. apartment/car/insurance/etc.
3. Even considered going to a different school than BYU.
4. Worked while going to school
5. Didn't go home for the summer
6. Went to a Drive-in movie with just Karl (usually there is a big group going but he surprised me for my birthday) and left after the first movie (we even stayed for Star Wars Attack of the Clones one time but when you get married I swear you just can't stay up as late anymore. By 10 you are dead tired.)
7. Went to summer school
8. Went to Carpinteria, CA (I totally recommend it. There are HUNDREDS if seals in the spring)
9. Took an Independent Study course
10. Got a 4.0 for a semester (Granted I was only taking 6.5 credits but one was chem)
11. First summer with Karl (It is much better than just occasional visit)
12. Camping at Moon Lake/with Karl's family
13. Going up Spanish Fork Canyon (The hot springs are gorgeous!)
14. Going to the Dr. while on our own insurance (that was a rude awakening)
15. Got accepted into a Nursing Program (and it is at UVU so this year is the first time I have ever attended a different University)
16. Have a bus pass
17. Not been with my Adams family for Christmas/First Christmas with Karl
18. Moved more than twice in one year (We are on move number 6. Thanks everyone for the help)
19. Wedding Anniversary (It's a one and only but it was the conclusion to our first year of marriage so it counts)
20. Went to San Fransisco, CA (Wicked was amazing and it is such a pretty city. Next time Alcatraz)

Anyways not that exciting but was a really fun year. Hope it was great for everyone else and that you had a few firsts too.

We Almost Died!

2009-12-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

I know that I tend to say this a lot but this time it is true. I have decided that snow is not always a good thing. Today at work I got to shovel snow for the first time. It was pretty fun but it may have been a bit much for the first time. I was outside shoveling for four hours.

But, that was just a side note. Here's what I was getting at. Today we were driving home from school. I was quizzing Karl on O Chem while he was driving when suddenly a white PT Cruiser started spinning out of control on the freeway. It spun a few times and then was facing oncoming traffic. I am really glad I was not in that car. But then the car started to go in reverse, right at us! Karl had to swerve to get out of the way and I thought for sure we were going to get into an accident. That Cruiser was only missed us by inches. Fortunately no one was hurt. We were fine and the other cars saw what was happening so the Cruiser didn't get hit either. What a day.
This is what almost hit us. I knew there was a reasont I don't like those cars.

Christmas Time Again

2009-12-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Christmas. I love the lights, the decorations, and the fact that everyone seems a little nicer than usual, and the music is amazing. I have to say my favorite is "Baby it's Cold Outside." And when it is for Christmas I even love shopping. Especially when it is for Karl. I'm having a hard time controlling myself because I just want to get him everything. And with the Christmas season comes the end of the semester. With only three more days of class and then finals we are almost done for the year! So Merry Christmas everyone!

Here we go again

2009-10-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

He did it again.

The best stuff always happens when I am really tired and just want to sleep. I was up doing homework until about 2:30 in the morning and was finally going to bed. Karl stayed up with me til about 11:30 but then he was out. (This is what happens when you get married. You used to be able to stay up til 3 and get up at 6:30 and you were fine. Now, anything after 11 is really late.) I was so tired and finally fell asleep; then I heard him talking. He kept repeating something over and over. I finally rolled over and looked at him. He was sitting up in bed, looking at me and kept saying "Dive! Dive!" (Looking back I'm really hoping he wasn't saying Die! Die!) Then all of a sudden he said "Dive!!" really loud and jumped on top of me. I was completely pinned and couldn't really breathe. Then he just gave me a squeeze, rolled over, and went back to bed. Living with Karl is quite the adventure. :)

Adventures in Sleep Talking

2009-10-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

I always wanted to marry someone who slept talked. I thought it would be so much fun and I am a really light sleeper so I wake up to practically everything. I got my wish. Karl is hilarious. Most of the time he just yells something or says a few words but everyone once in awhile it gets interesting. Here are a few of my favorite stories.

Karl sat up in bed and said "We gotta go." I started asking where we were going and he got out of bed started walking to the door and said, "Come on, we gotta go, we gotta go." So I got up and started following him. I knew he was asleep but I was really curious as to "where we had to go." Plus we lived on the third floor and I didn't want to find out in the morning that we had to go skydiving or something off our balcony. That would not have been good. But we got out into the living room and Karl stopped and started looking around. I asked him where we were going. He looked confused and said " I have to go to the bathroom. " I decided I did not need to go with him and went back to bed. The next thing I heard was him opening the fridge and getting a drink. Then he was back and asleep in like two seconds.

I don't know what Karl was dreaming about last week but he started talking. I really need to keep a notebook and start writing these things down. But he was giving someone long and detailed instructions and ended with "Dan....ger....ous." So whatever they were doing was apparently hazardous to their health.

But I really just wanted to tell this last story. It has been his most interactive so far, and it happened a few days ago so I actually remember a lot about it. I was exhausted and Karl started talking. Usually I try to listen but this time I just wanted to go back to sleep. He kept saying things like "Where is he?" "Where did he go?" All of a sudden he started poking me really hard and started talking to me. The following is our conversation (complete with my thoughts for full effect)
Me: (Ouch. What the heck) "What?"
Karl: "Where is he?"
Me: (Get off me, stop poking me) "Who"
Karl: "Our son."
Me: "I don't know." (Quit it, that hurts) "Why?"
Finally he stopped poking me and started saying "Where is he? Where'd he go?" Then he started sounding really pleased with himself like you could tell he was smiling and started staying "We're going to find him." over and over. Then he rolled over, started breathing really deeply, and was back asleep.

I've tried to have a conversation with him while he was sleep talking before and it has never worked so that was really fun. But next time I hope we can do that without the poking. I really thought I was going to have bruises in the morning. He obviously wanted answers. ;)

But that is Karl. I was right to want to marry a sleep talker. It is a lot of fun.

A Little Background: Part 3 (The Proposal)

2009-10-04T11:51:00.000-07:00

When we got back to school we kept dating and it was great. We spent as much time as we possibly could together. During the summer we had talked about getting married and when we were actually together that came up a lot more. Karl didn't like my original plan. Can't say that I blame him. I thought we should get married August 2009 (meaning we would just barely have gotten married 2 months ago) so that I could plan it with with my mom over the summer to reduce stress and we could both work so we wouldn't be broke starting out. I'm really glad he put his foot down on that plan.

Next we were talking about April 2009 after school was out. That way my sister who was on a mission in Norway at the time would be home. Then we found out her Mission President gave her permission to come home in December so she could start school in January. So we went from August 2009 to April 24, 2009 to our official date December 27, 2008.

Karl proposed to me October 23, 2008. The night before we had been talking and Karl told me that he had asked my dad if he could marry me. During the course of the night he told me he had been planning on asking me to marry him the next day but was going to wait now to make it more of a surprise. I was pretty bummed that he wasn't planning the next day anymore, but at least I knew it was coming and I had something planned for the next night to distract me, I was supposed to be going to a play with my roommates.

Then I found out we couldn't go to the play, my roommates had other plans for that night, going to the play was only supposed to be a rouse to throw me off. So one: I wasn't getting proposed to that night. Two: I didn't even get to see Aida. And three: I had to go to a paper review. It was not my night. Karl dropped me off at my review and I kept hoping the whole time that maybe he would just propose to me anyways. That would be so great! So I started getting really excited again and couldn't wait for Karl to come and pick me up. Well, when he picked me up he asked me what I wanted to do that night. That burst my bubble. If he was asking me he obviously didn't have anything planned.

We decided to go watch a movie on my lap top. I sort of directed Karl to a place to watch it. Then we went for a little walk. It was dark when we started walking down the path where we first held hands. We were just talking and then Karl pulled me down a side trail towards the river. There was a table lit with candlesticks and set with roses and dinner for two. He led me to a flat rock that was covered in blankets and gave me the sweetest letter in the world. Then he knelt down, took my hand and asked me to marry him. It was perfect. I have always loved water and dreamed of getting proposed to by a waterfall so this was perfect for me. It was beautiful, there was running water with a waterfall in the background and the best man in the world told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I was on cloud nine. It was the best night in the world.

The next day we went home for my brothers 16th birthday and a friends homecoming so I got to show off my new fiance and ring. I have the greatest guy in the entire world. He's awesome. I just wanted to let everyone to know. :)

We were married two months later, December 27th, at 11:20 in the St. George Temple.

A Little Background: Part 2 (The dating year)

2009-09-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

Karl is one of those guys you can go to when you are having a hard time. My roommate situation at Raintree wasn’t the best and we were always having problems. Karl was always there for me, letting me vent and cry to him after something had happened. We used to go on long walks and just talk. First it was because of the roommate thing, then it just evolved. We started “hanging out” every night. Sometimes with our other friends but a lot of the time we would just go on walks by ourselves and talk. I just kept falling for him more and more. He was so nice to me. After about two months of this Karl got brave.

We were on one of our walks by the river that ran behind our complex. It is a gorgeous trail and at the end there is a tunnel that is a little scary. Sometimes there are homeless people under there at night so I really don’t like it, but Karl convinced me to go through. On our return trip through the pitch dark tunnel, I was holding onto him with a death grip I was so scared, he grabbed my hand. [I’d never really been in a relationship before so I throughout our story I am continually doing stupid things. Bear with me.] I was so happy and excited, but I didn’t want it to be awkward, so what did I do? I started talking a mile a minute. I was so nervous. Karl thought it was hilarious. I know, I am so smooth.

A few days later we went on our first official date. We went to the corn maze at Thanksgiving Point. Karl held my hand the whole time and I couldn’t stop smiling. I thought it was the best date in the world. After that we kept dating and seeing each other every night. A month later Karl got brave again.

I just want to preface this story with I was sick at this time. Alright, moving forward. We were in our complex clubhouse talking and hanging out. I was a little out of it but we were having a great time. Karl started to lean in to kiss me. So what did I do? I hugged him. About a second later I realized what was going on and I felt so stupid. Yeah, didn’t turn away because I didn’t want him to kiss me. I turned because I am retarded and didn’t realize what was going on until it was too late. I blame it on the fact that I was in a haze from being sick. So that was Karl’s first attempt. Fortunately he didn’t give up on me. He kissed me the next day. (yay!)

We kept dating the rest of the year and through the summer. That part was miserable because I was in Nevada and Karl was in Utah, but we made it. Two months after we were back at school he proposed.

A Little Background (Part 1)

2009-08-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

I'm still trying to figure out this whole blogging thing. I know there is a part where you can tell about yourself but until I find it I figured I could tell about us in a post.

A little background Part 1- How we met

Karl and I met our freshman year at BYU. It was the winter semester and Karl had moved in with one of my best friends from high school. Our beginning were a little violent. The first time I ever saw Karl I was cleaning his kitchen. Ok, freshmen dorms are disgusting. There were no clean dishes in the whole apartment and they were now eating out of tupperware to avoid doing dishes. It was time for intervention. So while Aurelia (one of my roommates and best friends) did dishes with Chris, I attempted to clean the oven. It was at that moment Karl entered the room. The only problem was that I was bent over by the door so he hit me in the head. He apparently didn't notice because he didn't say a word to me. He just got food and left. So I continued cleaning. I guess he forgot something because he came back, hit me in the head with the door again, and this time he spoke. But was is to say sorry? Nope. It was "You guys really shouldn't be cleaning for them." And that was my first encounter with Karl.

I guess you could say our relationship had a violent beginning. First he hits me twice with a door. The next example was while we were playing basketball. I played basketball in high school and have always been a bit aggressive. Guys tend to not play rough against girls, which I guess is a good thing, but I thought it was a little annoying because I wanted to play. During one play Karl was guarding me. I started pushing him and was pretty much shocked when he pushed me back. But I liked it a lot. He didn't let me walk all over him. I guess you could say it was love at first shove. :) After that we kept hanging out and talking and we got to be really good friends.

Here we are as freshman. I never realized I had such chubby cheeks.

When I went home for the summer I had a huge crush on Karl and couldn't wait to get back to Utah to hang out with him. We convinced him to live at Raintree with us and it was great. He was just a few buildings over. We were still really good friends and kept hanging out until one day... Stay tuned for the rest of the story. (meaning, i have to go to class right now)

Suprise Dates Are Great

2009-08-26T21:19:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty hard spending time with Karl because of our work schedules but Karl finally had a day off on Monday and I now work from 12-4 so we actually had an evening together! Karl came and picked me up from campus and then gave me about 20 minutes to get ready for a date. So here's the before we leave pic.

First stop, Olive Garden. I definitely recommend the unlimited pasta bowl with Creamy Florentine Sauce. It was amazing. But I ate way too much. Surprise dates are great but sometimes some advanced warning is a good thing.

Next stop was a long drive up the Spanish Fork canyon. We went on a gorgeous hike.

There was a river that followed the path the entire way with little waterfalls, lots of trees, it was one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on.

The higher we got the water started to look milky. It was really cool because it was getting dark and the water almost seemed to glow.

The hike alone would have been amazing but, as you might have guessed from my wearing a bathing suit there was more than just a hike. When we got to the top there was a big waterfall and two different sets of warm springs.

This is as close as we got to the top one. I didn't really feel like getting any closer to the nude man enjoying those ones. But that just means we'll have to go back again. Plus the lower pools were so pretty I was quite content to just stay there.

The water was the perfect temperature. There were even a few really short natural slides between the pools.

So in summary. Karl is the master of surprise dates. One, he can keep them a surprise. And two, he can plan the best dates ever. So if you want to go on a gorgeous hike just let us know because we want to head up again sometime soon and it is worth the drive.

Oh and side note. We got to hike back to the car in the pitch black because we didn't have a flashlight but that just added to the adventure. :)

First Week of No School

2009-08-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

This week did not go quite as planned. I was thinking that because I didn't have school anymore I would be able to see a lot more of Karl. False. I calculated it and of a roughly 144 possible hours I saw Karl for about 33 of those. I think it's retarded. I swear I saw more of him when we were dating than I do now that we are married.

But it has been a pretty good, pretty busy week. Here's the update.
Monday
I already gave a basic synopsis so after we got back we had lunch and then Karl left for work. Fun day. :)

Tuesday
At Thanksgiving Point they have Two-Buck Tuesdays during the month of August so we got up early and headed out for a morning date. Karl took me to the Gardens last year and I fell in love with them. There were lots of people so we didn't really get to take tons of pictures but here are a few.

It's such a pretty place. I definitely recommend it.

After about an hour of the Gardens we had to head back because Karl was going in early to work. But we had a great time.

Wednesday
Karl Finally had a whole day off!!! It was great. We got to run errands. :) I got my official UVU id card. Hopefully I'll be using it in the winter. But the great thing about having it now is that it is also my buss pass and I only had to pay 20 dollars for it instead of the 65 bucks a month of 120 for a year discount from BYU. We also got a new toaster. My old one broke awhile ago and of course we accidentally returned the one we got for our wedding. Good thing for gift cards. I am rediscovering how much I love toast.

Then we went on a mid-day date to the dollar theater to se Angels and Demons (we both liked it) and then it was my turn to leave for work. Karl went fishing with his dad while I was gone. Neither one of them caught a fish but I'm glad they were able to spend time together.

After work it was time for another date. By the way, if you didn't know it, Karl has a sixth sense. He just knows things. It is impossible to suprise this kid. I said I wanted to take him on a suprise date and from that he knew we were going to the Nicklecade. I don't know how he does it. But it was a really fun day. I loved being able to be with Karl that much. If you haven't noticed we try to take advantage of the time we do get together. :)

Thursday
We made French Toast and watched the third Mummy movie before Karl left for work.

Friday
This was the first time I have slept on the couch during our marriage. Don't worry, we didn't get into a fight. I've been a little sick lately and it makes it hard to sleep. I have a cough and a runny nose and it just isn't very conducive to sleeping. So since Karl only had about 5 and a half hours between when he got home and when he left for work again I opted for the couch so he could actually get some sleep.

I went into Salt Lake to visit some friends from home. It was nice to not be alone. It was my last official day of my 4pm-8pm custodial job. I'm so excited. Starting Monday I will be in a new area, get done at 4, and I get paid more. Life is good.

Saturday
Didn't get to see him much Saturday either. Slept in til 10 and Karl had to be at work by 10:45. We had a ward activity up in Provo Canyon. It was a lot of fun but considering we are in a married ward and everybody had their spouse with them, it kind of rubbed in the fact that I was all alone. So as soon as it was done I went straight to Karl's work and hung out with him for the rest of the night.

That has pretty much been our week. When Karl isn't home I just do dishes, mope around missing him, or attempt to pack our apartment. I should do more of that considering we are moving next week. But we are doing good, surviving, and are excited for when Karl is done with that job so we can see more of each other. :)

All Dressed Up With No Where To Go

2009-08-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Monday was a little disappointing. I have discovered I love looking at free stuff on craigslist just to see what you could potentially get for nothing. One day there were free pictures. I emailed the girl just for fun and it turned out she really needed to take bridals to expand her portfolio. I though, "Sweet. I get to attempt to be pretty again in my wedding dress and take more pictures with Karl." I thought it sounded great. Karl on the other hand wasn't quite as excited as me, but he was willing to go along with it because he could tell I wanted to do it. Isn't he good to me?

Well, Monday rolled around and I got up really early to attempt to look cute. I have never really been into hair or make up. I spent most of High School with my hair in a pony tail and was introduced to eye liner and shadow during my second semester of college. So the task ahead seemed pretty daunting. But two and a half hours later I was pretty pleased with myself.

This was my first attempt EVER at trying to do an up-do ( or anything semi complicated for that matter) and I think it turned out rather well.

And my attempt at bridal make up. Still got a ways to go with that one. But still, it's pretty good for me.

Well we get all the way out to Santaquin where we are supposed to be taking pictures and the girl calls, says she just woke up, she'd been in the ER all night and she can't take picture today. So the morning that Karl has off was wasted driving to no where to not take pictures that he didn't want in the first place. I felt really bad but he was a good sport about it. She said she wanted to reschedule though because she needed bridals and none of her friends fit into their dresses anymore so we'll see if that ever happens. But looking on the brightside I discovered that there is truth in the saying "You can do anything if you put you mind to it." Who knew?

Summer Vacation At Last!!...Sort Of

2009-08-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

School is finally done for the summer!!!... and it starts again in two weeks. But that is ok. That means two weeks without homework which means there is now time to pack, study for a nursing entrance exam, and my personal favorite...spend time with Karl.

These past few weeks have been a little crazy in that department. Karl has been pulling eight hour days every day in Spanish Fork Canyon. Last Sunday he had to work too and that was from 9 to 9. He does get Saturday's off but that is because he has his other job which goes from 11 am to roughly 11 pm. Let's couple that with my school schedule shall we. I would be out the door leaving for school at 7:30 am and wouldn't get home until about 2:10. To be at work on time Karl has to leave at 2 and doesn't get home until about midnight. That means very little time of being able to be together. So I have decided that even if break is only two weeks long it will be heaven. AND Karl get's Wednesday off this week. I'm so excited!

With the school year there are going to be some changes too. We currently live in Wymount Terrace. It has been such a great experience. We love our ward, the apartments are pretty nice (except the small factor of cinder block walls and no air conditioner but you learn to love it), and it's only about a 15 minute walk to school. At the end of the month we are going to be moving to Draper and living with Karl's sister Rachel. We are both really excited about that. Rachel just bought a house that is right off the freeway (which will be really nice since we will be commuting), it is brand new (still being built at the moment), and we get to live with her. This means game nights and I am really excited to watch those two watch football together. They are both HUGE fans. I've learned a lot about college football and the NBA from just sitting in the car with those two. Don't get me wrong, I like football too but more for the atmosphere that comes with it. It should be fun watching and listening to those two when the games are on. I'll keep you posted.

Like Mother Like Son

2009-08-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

I have being trying to figure out what to do for Karl's birthday since the beginning of July. It's not til September 4th but I wanted to be prepared. I finally decided on a surprise camping trip. Then Karl's family invited us to go camping with them at a place called Moon Lake. Unfortunately we couldn't go because I had to work. Then inspiration stuck. I was going to take him before his birthday anyways, why not go somewhere nice that he really wants to go to?

So I devised a surprise. I got two days off of work, packed everything in the car while Karl was at work, got directions, made cupcakes, and thought I did a pretty good job keeping everything secret. Apparently I was wrong. Karl got suspicious somehow. I had been texting Tony to get things coordinated. He checked my phone, I'd erased everything but he knew something was up.

Apparently he gets it from Ann. I've heard stories that she is very good at figuring things out. Anyways. When it was time to leave I tried to trick him by running to the bank and library before he dropped me off for work. Then I insisted on driving and we went up the canyon instead. Karl was so happy. He said he had been excited about it all morning and was wondering when we were going to leave. Good thing we were really going or else he would have been really disappointed. I threw him off a little with the charade before work and he didn't know it was a birthday surprise but other than that he figured it all out. Lesson learned? Don't try and surprise Karl. It won't work.

But we had a really great time. We went fishing right when we got there. Alicia caught the first fish of the night and we were all lucky enough to catch something. My fish was tiny but hey, it was something. We had corn on the cob over the fire that night. I'd never had that before and it was AMAZING. It has become a new camp favorite.

We spent the next day on the beach. It was a little cold and only Karl was "brave" enough to get in. We went rafting, Alicia made a sand mountain, and we were able to just relax. Then came the fishing. Tony rented a motor boat and we went out again. It was a really beautiful area. It took us a really long time to catch the first fish but once again it was Alicia who got it. I guess she is just the best. She was the first both days. Tony and Karl caught a few as well. Then it was time to head back home. That was our big summer fun so far.

Fun with the Jepsons

2009-08-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

One little thing about me. I have a tendency to procrastinate. So this happened awhile ago but the pictures are too cute to not post.

Cami and the kids were down one weekend and we all went to The Living Aquarium (Thanks Ann). If you haven't been I highly recommend it. They just added an amazon wing and it was amazing.

There was a really big octopus.

And in the picture with Karl is a turtle and a crocodile. They were little and so cute!

These are just a few more pictures from that trip.

Karl had a really fun time with the kids.

He kept trying to put them down the big tube.Our poor future kids. :)
Just kidding. He's great and helped them explore.

Making Life Interesting

2009-07-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

Our Camping in Camp out...and other fun things

So when you are newly married you usually don't have very much money. When you are students you usually don't have much time. Put those together and what do you get? The Jepsons. So one night we decided that we would try and make things a little interesting and have a camp in. Here are the results. (Forgive the game face. I always make stupid faces in pictures)

First we started out with a paper air plane contest. For those who are looking for something new to try I highly suggest this. We had a blast. Karl decided to name his "The Kendra Dominator!!". Our first test run was who's plane would go the farthest. I would have to say I dominated on that one. But Karl made a definite comeback and slaughtered me when it came to who's plane could make the most loops. It was really fun trying to come up with different little competitions, like who could get closest to the TV, who could stay up the longest, etc. We ended by throwing them off our third story balcony and seeing what happened. Mine was like a kamikaze bomber. After clearing the trees it went into a nose dive and landed vertically with its nose stuck in the ground. Karl's did a series of loops and flips. Who knew paper airplanes could be so fun?

After the planes we made s'mores over the gas stove to get into the spirit of camping. Gas stoves are not my favorite but they definitely come in handy sometimes. After s'mores we got really authentic and popped popcorn and headed out to our tent to watch a movie. What can I say. We are die hard campers. :) We set our tent up on the balcony and got to enjoy the outdoors without going anywhere. It was really convenient considering it was in the middle of the week. It was only a Wednesday. So if you happen to have a balcony and a tent I would highly recommend a little camping get-a-way.

Karl is getting settled in for the evening. We were fully equipped with couch seats for padding and popcorn for the movie. Really roughing it.

Our tent fit perfectly on the balcony. It was practically made for it.

California Trip and Camping on the Beach

2009-06-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

During the break between the winter and spring semesters we headed down to California for a little summer vacation. We camped on the beach and went to 6 Flags (one of Karl's favorite places. He loves roller coasters). The beach was beautiful and we had it all to ourselves. Probably because it was freezing, we never got in the water, but that's ok. We saw dolphins,carnivorous birds, and hundreds of seals. It was a really beautiful area.Here are a few pics.

Cooking the tin foil dinners.....

Eating the tin foil dinners.

2009-06-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Hundreds and Hundreds of Seals

The beach and cliffs were awesome.

2009-06-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

It was too cold to get into the water so we made a big sand castle. We made sure we knocked it down when we were done so that some kids wouldn't do it.

2009-06-15T15:48:00.001-07:00

Us waiting in line for a ride which was a little boring at times so we took some pics.

Kendra in front of The Riddler Roller Coaster

2009-06-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Every time we walked by this seal Kendra insisted that we took a picture and we finally did as we were heading back home.

Honeymoon Fun

2009-06-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Perfect photo op in Acapulco.

Our dinner friends, Katelyn and Shane.

2009-06-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

The Mexican Beach. We had fun with pictures.

This was the sweetest chess board ever!

2009-06-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

San Diego Temple Visit on our way to the Cruise Ship

Karl hates Chucky! He is the most scary thing ever. Even worse than spiders.

Karl drove the wrong way down a one way street in San Diego. Kendra just screamed.

2009-06-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Universal
Studios Jaws about
to eat us.