The Kirkpatrick Fam

Favorite pictures of the month

2011-11-05T18:06:00.004-06:00

Lucy has grown some hair! Just kidding. Scroll down further to see why we bought our 3 month old baby a blond wig meant for an 8 year old child . . .

Lucy was a princess for Halloween. We basically just dressed her up to take pictures--it was one of the funniest things I have seen! She also got to wear her puffy pink princess dress to church.

Drying off after a bath! Lucy loves, loves, loves her baths.

Just chillin with her dad. She doesn't seem to mind the sunglasses:)

Adorable

2011-09-26T13:15:00.005-06:00

So I guess I am still a bad blogger even when I have an adorable little girl to take pictures of! We have taken way more pictures in the past two months, I have just been too busy/lazy to blog them! The first pictures was not posed! We just caught her sleeping like this. The next picture of Lucy and Dan sleeping is also extremely adorable!
On August 28th, Dan gave Lucy a beautiful blessing. It was such a special day and she was a little angel all day.

Over labor day weekend we took a trip to Utah and Lucy met two sets of great grandparents, plus all of her cousins and aunts and uncles!
Rylee and Reese got to meet their first cousin! They couldn't keep their hands off of her!
Lucy with her great grandparents (Dan's grandparents)

The whole Stewart and Kelly Kirkpatrick family!

Lucy has done so much growing up! She smiles all the time at Dan and I and makes all sorts of cute noises as she tries to talk to us. These next few pictures are from this past week. I think she looks just like Dan in this first picture.

These two pictures are a couple of my favorites! I love it when she is so happy!
Lucy just looking cute in her little jean jumper. We had a little girls night out and went to the Relief Society broadcast.
I love the cheesy grin along with the double chin!
Lucy has also got to spend lots of time with her grandmas the past couple of weeks because I went back to work part time. It has been so sad to leave her but I know she is getting taken good care of! Dan also went back to school this semester to get ready to apply to medical school. We are doing really well and love having a little family!

Lucy's first photo shoot

2011-08-24T21:20:00.003-06:00

Chelsea (my favorite cousin and best friend who is extremely talented at everything) did a little photo shoot with Lucy when she was 9 days old. She did such a great job! I think they are so adorable! I feel like Lucy is growing and changing every day--I'm so glad I will always have these pictures to remember her when she was so little and new!

We Love Lucy!!

2011-08-10T14:41:00.004-06:00

Here are some pictures of Lucy's first week! She has big dark blue eyes, but they are hard to catch on camera
The only thing big about her are her feet! In this picture her feet look as big as her head!

Just sleeping with her arms folded--She is so sweet!
All dressed up for her first outing- to grandma and grandpa's house!
Dan was playing dress up with her--The sunglasses and sweet pink Chuck Taylor's are still a little too big!

Proud mom and dad
She has already inherited her dad's hatred of picture taking!
Lucy's life consists of eating, sleeping, hiccuping, pooping, and just looking cute. We pretty much just adore her all day long. We feel like we have known her forever and can't imagine life without her! We love Lucy!!

Lucy Jane Kirkpatrick

2011-08-04T14:41:00.003-06:00

Announcing the arrival of Lucy Jane Kirkpatrick! Born August 2nd, 2011 at 2:36 pm. She is 18 1/2 inches long and weighs 6 lbs 4 oz right now. She is absolutely adorable and we love her soooooo much!

Baby prep!

2011-06-26T08:58:00.006-06:00

So I thought I would be a better blogger once I was done with school, but it seems like I am just as busy (or more) now! Working full time, being in Young Womens, and getting ready for a baby to come have kept me pretty busy! Dan has been traveling back and forth to Pennsylvania for work too. I thought I should post an update before our little baby comes, which is 5 weeks away!! Mt sister Ashely is due at the end of September, so we got a belly shot of us together when she was here for my brother' graduation and my baby shower. The pictures below are from my baby shower. My wonderful friends threw me a baby shower and it was a lot of fun! I got lots of adorable presents for our little girl, and I think we are pretty much set for her to come!

My dad even got me a present--a grizzly onesie!
Chelsea, my bestest friend and cousin came all the way from Omaha for my baby shower!!
My dear old friends Ashley and Emily hosted the shower. It was so fun to spend time with them! Emily is due it September too! I swear it is baby season. Pretty much everyone I know is pregnant. I guess our little girl will have lots of friends and cousins to play with!

With Dan out of town I decided to do a little sewing project with my mom. We made my baby's bumper, crib skirt, and valence. Here are the finished products--I think they turned out so cute!

And last, but not least, these are the cute pictures my amazing cousin Chelsea took of me and the little baby after my shower!

Baby Girl!!

2011-03-25T20:51:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I had my ultrasound and we found out that we are having a little girl!! We were so excited! I was thinking it was a boy, but when the ultrasound tech said it was a girl I was so excited and started to cry. The cutest thing was seeing how excited Dan was. All of our nieces absolutely adore him and now he is going to have his own little girl be be obsessed with him! Here are pictures from the ultrasound. The first one is of the baby's foot . . . how cute. I thought I would post that one because in the second picture it looks like the baby doesn't have any legs, but it does (and feet too). My sister asked me who our girl looks like, and I have to say it is pretty tough to say at this point. I felt like she looked really skinny, especially her bum and legs, but the tech said that the measurements looked good and she weighs a whopping 14 ounces. I guess I will just have to keep eating lots to get some fat on her bones. And of course I have to include a picture of my belly. This was the day of the ultrasound at 21 1/2 weeks. So far I have felt really good. I never was sick at all. My only complaints have been a sore lower back, and maybe being a little tired. I have been feeling our little girl move since about 16 weeks and it is so fun to feel her. Hurray for little girls!

Good News!

2011-02-13T09:25:00.002-07:00

Dan and I have an exciting announcement that we have shared with some of you, but I guess it is time for the whole blogging world to know . . . We are having a baby!! We are so excited and we already love our little avacodo sized baby alot. I am due July 31st, so it is going to be a hot summer!

Omaha!

2011-02-02T17:02:00.003-07:00

I went to visit my favorite cousin/best friend Chelsea in Omaha last week. We had so much fun! We were super busy eating good food, visiting museums/visitors centers, seeing the sights, making crafts, and just relaxing! We went to a diner, drive-in, and dive and had the most delicious french toast and cactus scramble!
We went to a really neat museum about Abraham Lincoln
We also went to the coolest zoo I have every been to! It was mostly inside and you just walk through the natural habitats of all the animals.

It was so fun to spend time with Chelsea! Thanks for pampering me and showing me such a good time!

Christmas Eve

2011-01-18T15:49:00.002-07:00

We had a very merry Christmas here in Billings! We ate lots of good food, played lots of games, watched movies and relaxed. On Christmas eve we went to my grandma's house and did our usual Christmas eve traditions. Here is Dan and I and Chelsea and Cody. Below is my mom and dad. That is probably the only picture I will ever get with my dad in a bobcat hat!

Santa came to visit and all the big kids got to sit on his lap, including my sister Molly.

Here is my brother Dallin with our cute cousins. He is quite the ladies man (mostly with girls that aren't related to us though!)

Those are pretty much the only picture I took over the holidays. We have done a lot of relaxing though! I am waiting to start my new job at the health department and Dan is on the job hunt. Right now he is traveling around Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks working for the company we worked for during the summers.

Fall happenings

2010-12-12T11:11:00.003-07:00

So I usually only post when I take pictures and I was looking back through my camera and I have hardly taken any pictures this fall. We have been busy though! We have taken 3 road trips since we got back to school. In October we went home to Billings for fun and to look for jobs. Then the first part of November we went to Denver. We stayed a couple of nights with Dan's brother Jared and his family. The picture above is Dan with their cute little kids! Then Dan went back to Provo and I went to the American Public Health Association Conference there with friends from my MPH program. It was pretty fun and I got lots of free stuff, including a needle-free flu shot from the expo!

I also presented a poster with a couple of my friends from a group project we did last year.
We went home for Thanksgiving a few weeks ago, and that was very fun and relaxing. Although the drive to and from was pretty scary! Now we are just getting ready for finals this week. I will be done with school for the rest of my life! And Dan will be done . . . with his undergrad. He still has like 8 years to go. The poor thing. Then on Friday we are loading up a U-haul and moving to Billings! We are both excited for the change but are sad to leave our life in Provo. Wish us luck with all of our changes!

Gettysburg and Mt. Vernon

2010-10-03T12:57:00.005-06:00

So I thought I would catch up on the rest of our summer. We went to Pennsylvania for 3 weeks to audit daycare nutrition programs again. It was a good little summer adventure! Our highlights of the trip were going to see Mount Vernon and Gettysburg. They were both really neat! There was so much to see at Mt Vernon and they had a neat museum with George's fake teeth. At Gettysburg we drove around to all the battlefields and they have like a million monuments for each battalion or troop, and each state has a monument too. There was also a really cool museum there too. We got to see Katy and Sean and their girls, which was really fun. The pictures above are the monument where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address and one of the battlefields.
Here we are at a different battle field. Dan is suppose to be trying to shoot me but he didn't do a very good job posing for the picture :)

This was at Mt. Vernon. Dan with our little nieces. How cute

In front of George's house. We took a tour through the house too. It overlooks the Delaware river and is so pretty!

We got back from Pennsylvania the Friday before school started so it was a little crazy getting back to Provo and moved back into our apartment. It is our last semester at BYU and I am sooo excited! Then the plan is to move back to Billings for awhile. So there is an update for the few people who still check our blog!

Montana Mountains

2010-07-18T20:00:00.001-06:00

The last two weekends Dan and I went hiking and camping with our families. It was so nice to be up in the mountains. Montana really is so beautiful!

Wedding, Birthday, and Olympics!

2010-06-06T13:04:00.005-06:00

Last weekend was super busy and fun! On Friday it was McKenna's wedding. It was a busy day! They got married at the temple at three, and then I went around with them and the photographer taking pictures. It was a fun job except for it was freezing cold! Everyone was complaining that it was colder than the day Dan and I got married. It was rainy and misty and about 40 degrees the whole day. McKenna and McKay didn't seem to mind though! Then we had the reception at the Billings Depot that night. It looked so beautiful. I didn't take too many pictures that day because I was busy running around, but it was super fun! I was so excited because Dan and his brothers sang the Billy Joel song "For the Longest time" at the reception. Here is a picture of McKenna and Annie after she caught the bouquet.

This is Dan's aunt Cyd, her girls, and our nieces Anna and Elizabeth outside the temple.
The on Saturday it was Rylee's birthday! Andrew and Ashley came for the weekend and we spent some time with them. Molly and Tara made Rylee a Candyland cake--it was so cute! Rylee loved it.
Dan's sister Katy and her girls are here in Billings for a couple of weeks, so yesterday we decided to have family Olympics. We played the Wii, air hockey, had a brain-a-thon, and an obstacle course. Here is Dan with Jane. He is so cute with our nieces and nephews. I love to watch him play with them.
Here is Katy and Matt facing off in Wii sword fighting. I have to admit that I won that event, but Dan took the gold overall.
Besides having fun with our families Dan and I have just been working. I can't believe it is already June! This summer is going by so fast!

Catch-up

2010-05-16T17:03:00.004-06:00

So I know it has been like five months since I posted last, and I always make goals that I am going to blog more often but usually it doesn't happen. So I won't make any promises! It has been super busy, but things are starting to calm down. This past semester went by so fast. Some of the highlights were a weekend trip to Las Vegas with McKenna (Dan's sister) and her fiance McKay, and I got to go to Washington D.C. with my public health program. It was a super fun to see all of the sights. We are actually home in Billings for the summer. Dan is working at Western Security Bank and I am doing an internship with the health department for my public health program. It has been so nice to have our evenings free to hang out with our families and do relaxing things like watch TV! McKenna is getting married in less than two week here in Billings, so we have been helping with all the planning and are excited for the wedding.

Here is me and a few of my friends that I went to Washington D.C with. We walked soooo much, but we saw all of the monuments and went to all the museums we wanted to! And we also went to a conference, but that definitely wasn't the highlight of the trip. It was also freezing cold!
Here is my family I think at Christmastime. We are living with the Kirkpatricks for the summer, but have had lots of visits so far to my house. Dan is becoming a regular at Thursday night basketball. We visited Ashely and Andrew in Burley one weekend this semester, but are excited to see them over Memorial Day weekend.
Here are some of the Kirkpatrick kids. This was also a picture from Christmas vacation . . . I am kind of a slacker at taking pictures, but hopefully I well have some more coming soon!

Happy Holidayssss!

2009-12-07T20:40:00.003-07:00

It has been a really long time since I posted last, and a lot has happened since then! First of all, Dan and I got a new car (well, new to us) because the old Taurus died. It is a Honda CRV and we really like it so far!

Right after school started, we went up to Billings for labor day for my cousin's wedding. Here is Dan playing with our cute little niece Reese.
For Halloween we carved these pumpkins and went to our ward trunk or treat. We missed Chelsea and Cody, and we definitely didn't have the coolest trunk this year!
Thanksgiving at the Stott house! Dan will do anything to get out of a picture, including hiding behind Dallin.
Here we are at the Kirkpatrick's. We had fun playing games, shopping, eating, and of course . . .
Christmas tree hunting. We found a really good tree and brought it all the way back down to Utah! It is so nice to have a fresh Montana tree in our little apartment!
We went to the Christmas devotional last night and walked around temple square. It is getting really chilly and we have had tons of snow the past couple of days! So there you have it, Happy labor day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!
Besides celebrating these fun holidays, we have been busy with school and work! I have been pleasantly surprised with my masters program. I have really liked my classes and teachers this semester. I also am working teaching weight loss classes and doing nutrition counseling at the Central Utah Clinic, which I love! Dan is still working in the history department and working hard in his business classes. There is an update, if anyone still checks our blog. Hopefully I will post again before three months go by!

Virginia Lovin

2009-08-29T19:37:00.002-06:00

Dan and I are back in Provo now, but the past six weekends we have been traveling! Needless to say we have been busy, but I wanted to post these pictures of Dan with our three ADORABLE nieces. We got to visit Katy (Dan's sister) and Sean and their girls in Virginia two weekends in a row during our time working in Philadelphia. It was so fun! This first picture is of Dan and Liz dancing at the Floyd country store. Every Friday night a bluegrass band comes to play at this country store and all of the locals come out for some hillbilly dancing. It was quite entertaining! I think we were the only ones there without a southern Virginia accent.

Katy and the girls came up to visit us in Philadelphia for a few days and we saw all of the sites there. We toured independence hall, saw the liberty bell, and spent some time in Amish country. This is the only picture I got of their visit, but I think it is so precious. Little Jane is only two months old and is the cutest baby I have ever seen!
Our second weekend in Virginia we went to a lake just outside Roanoke and played in the water. It was really fun! Dan and Anna attempted to build a sand castle.

Pilgrimage to Palmyra

2009-08-05T15:07:00.005-06:00

Since our last post, Dan and I have left the big apple for the city of brotherly love. Since we spent a month in Philadelphia last summer, we weren't too excited to come back because we have already seen the sites, and don't really like the city in general. So . . . this past weekend we drove up to Palmyra to see all of the Church history sites. It was sooooo cool! We were both very glad we made the trip. For those of you who aren't LDS, this post might not make very much sense to you. If you want to know more I would be glad to explain it though!
Our first stop was the EB Grandin print shop where the first Books of Mormon were printed. A cute old missionary couple gave us a tour and explained how the books were printed and bound back in 1830. The original press and tools they used were still there.
Dan was really excited to see copies of the first Books printed. This picture was on the first floor where the book store was located.
Here is a picture of the outside. I was surprised that the city of Palmyra was really old fashioned looking and there is only one street in the town.
Our next stop was the hill Cumorah. There is a big visitor's center at the bottom with some neat displays. We climbed to the top of the hill where this memorial marks the area where the plates were probably buried.
Our next stop was my favorite: Joseph Smith's old house and the sacred grove. Here we had a cute sister missionary give us a tour and tell us about the rooms in the house and stories of things that happened here. The old log home that these pictures were taken in is not the original, but it was rebuilt exactly like the original and in the same spot. This picture is in one of the bedrooms upstairs where the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph!
Here is the kitchen of the old log home. I was so happy because the sister missionary kept on offering to take our picture, so Dan had to consent to be in them!
This is the Palmyra temple that is just right across the street from the sacred grove.
This is a picture inside the Smith's frame house that they built a few years after they settled in Palmyra. This is actually the original home they lived in, and the one that Joseph brought the plates home to. The sister missionary pointed out all of the places he hid the plates from the mobs, and told us some other stories. It was so neat!
In front of the frame home.
This is just a picture of the fence that surrounds the Smith farmland. Upstate New York is such a pretty area. Everything is so green!
After our tour of the homes we got to walk through the Sacred Grove. It was so beautiful, peaceful, and calm--everything you expect it to be.

Our last stop was the Peter Whitmer farm in Fayette, NY. This was where the church was officially organized, and where Joseph spent some time translating the plates. This is a picture inside the house.
Lucky for us, the coolest town in Pennsylvania was on the way back to Philadelphia---Scranton! We were excited for this stop too because we are big fans of The Office. We were a bit bummed that the Scranton welcomes you sign had been moved from it's original spot that you see in the show, to a mall. But, we stopped and got a picture of it anyway!

Metropolitan Museum of Art

2009-07-20T20:04:00.004-06:00

On Saturday we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We went in expecting to spend maybe two hours, but we ended up staying 7 hours! The place was huge, and had so much really neat stuff besides just paintings.
There were tons of Greek and Roman statues and artifacts. This is a real Roman column.
And these are real mummy coffins from like 3000 BC! They also had all these walls with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
There was a whole wing of the museum with medieval suits of armor and all sorts of swords and guns from hundreds of years ago. Dan really liked this part!
Here is a picture from outside the museum. Even though I am not a big art fan, I would recommend this museum to anyone going to New York for a visit.
Of course you can't be in New York for too long without being sucked in by at least of few of the street vendors. Usually I am the one who gets lured in by their low prices, but Dan found some nice Italian ties for $5 dollars each! This gave me a good excuse to stop at some purse vendors on our way back to our apartment!

2009-07-12T17:00:00.003-06:00

Dan and I had a really fun weekend here, even though I was really sad we couldn't be in Billings with my whole Stott family for the Nugent sealing and my grandma's 80th birthday. Dan and I took a ferry out to see the statue of liberty, and it was really really cool. It is so big and is a breathtaking sight. We didn't get to climb to the top because the tickets to do that were sold out until September!

I loved being out in the water. The New York harbor is so beautiful, I don't think my pictures do any justice. It is just cool to see the sky scrapers right next to the ocean.

After the statue of liberty we took the ferry over to Ellis island. We got a little tour and watched a movie there about the peak immigration years. It was quite a patriotic day and made me really proud to be an American. We really are so blessed to live in this free country!
Here is a picture of ellis island from the ferry. It is a really ornate and beautiful building.
Another picture of lady liberty. A few things I learned about the statue: The full name is "Liberty enlightening the world". Also, did you know that the thickness of the green copper shell on the statue is as thick as two pennies stuck together!
On Friday night Dan and I walked around Times Square a little bit, and I got this picture of the Mary Poppins Marquis. A day care director told us that she can always tell the tourists from the New Yorkers because the tourists are always looking up. I think we stick out as tourists because I am always craning my head up to see the tops of all the buildings!
This isn't the best picture of times square, but I think it is so funny that every time we go there, there are all these people just sitting in lawn chairs in the middle of the road and I really have no idea why.
Me with Morgan Freeman! . . . Acutally it is a statue, but doesn't it look so real! I really thought it was him at first. Dan and I did pass Diane Keaton on the street the other day though! She had a hat on and was trying to look inconspicuous but I totally made eye contact with her. I would have stopped and asked to get a picture with her, but by the time I realized who it was, we had passed her. Well, those were our adventures for the weekend, hopefully more will be coming . . .

Fun in the City

2009-07-09T18:17:00.002-06:00

So Dan and I have been super busy since we got to New York. We have been working quite a bit, and when we aren't working, we have been busy trying to see the city! We spend a lot of time on the subways, and can pretty much find our way around. We are staying in a cute little apartment in the "east village" which is near NYU and is quite the party neighborhood. I feel pretty safe because there are three locked doors you have to go through before you get to our apartment!
We found out that you can get extremely discounted tickets to broadway shows on the day of the show if you have a student ID. So we went and saw Mary Poppins the other night and it was soooo cute. The stage equipment was amazing and the dancing was really fun.

Last week we went and saw South Pacific, and it was really good too! I didn't even know the story before, but I recognized some of the songs and the music was really really good.

Dan and I in the Mary Poppins theater. This is the only picture I have of Dan and I since we got to New York. He absolutely hates taking pictures, so the only way I can get pictures of us is if I ask someone to take the picture without telling him first. Hopefully we will get a few more before we leave the city!

On the 4th of July we went to Coney island and witnessed the national hot dog eating contest at the famous Nathan's hotdogs. The competition was on ESPN, and we could really only see it on the big screen because there was so many people there! The winner ate 68 hotdogs in ten minutes! I ate a hotdog from this stand, and it was pretty dang good.

We also walked along the boardwalk, but didn't feel like shelling out 10 dollars for a ferris wheel ride!

We also went and watched the Macy's fireworks over the Hudson river on the 4th, which were amazing, but we didn't get the best view again because there were so many people! Hopefully we will find some more fun things to this weekend, and I will try to post them sooner!

Catch Up

2009-07-05T13:34:00.003-06:00

Dan sitting and watching the fire

This is my cousin TaNisha coming out of the temple
My mom, sister Ashley, me, and my dad waiting outside the temple for TaNisha

We just finished our first week in New York, but since I haven't posted for a while, I thought that I would catch up on the month of June first. I bummed around a little bit and studied for the RD exam, which I passed last week! Dan worked and finished his spring classes. My mom came down to Utah for about a week for Brooke Hanson's wedding and my cousin TaNisha's wedding. My mom, Parker and I hiked up to Timpanogos caves one day, we went shopping, and helped with both the weddings. My dad and Ashley also came down for a day for my cousin's wedding. After that, Dan had finished his classes, so the two of us decided to bust out our tent and sleeping bags we got for our wedding and go camping for a couple of days. It was really fun and relaxing! We just sat around the fire, read, and fed little chipmunks chips. I wasn't able to catch that on camera though. Then we came back to Provo for a couple of days so I could cram and then take my test, then we went and stayed with Dan's grandparents in Scipio Utah. It is a tiny little town with about 325 people, but we had lots of fun with Dan's grandparents. On our way back we stopped in Manti for the Manti pageant with my Aunt Bethany's family. The pageant was pretty good, but a little cheesy as usual. Then we had one day to clean and pack before we flew to New York!

Yay for summer!

2009-06-08T15:34:00.002-06:00

So last week I finished my internship! It was such a good feeling to be done after 9 months of slave labor. It really wasn't that bad but it was a long time to work for free! These are some pictures with the other interns at some of our celebrations. The only sad thing about being done is that I won't be able to see these girls every day.
The past week I have been taking it easy . . . Doing some spring cleaning, sleeping, shopping, and studying for the RD exam that I want to take before we leave for New York. We don't leave until the 28th of June, so I still have a while to relax! Dan has been busy with his spring classes and working, so I feel a bit guilty bumming around--but not that guilty.

Burley!

2009-05-25T21:37:00.003-06:00

For memorial day weekend, Dan and I took a trip to Burley, Idaho to visit my sister Ashley, her husband Andrew, and cute little nieces Rylee and Reese. My sister Tara, who is living in Rexburg came up as well. It was fun to see them all and spend some time together. We went to "the city of rocks" and climbed around on these huge rock formations, which was really cool to see. We watched some movies, ate lots of Ashley's good food, played princess games with Rylee, and today we went and saw Shoshonee waterfall, which is just right out of Twin Falls. It was a fun and relaxing weekend! Thanks Ashley and Andrew!

Primary Children's and New York!

2009-04-10T16:45:00.002-06:00

This past week I finished up my second clinical rotation at Primary Children's hospital is Salt Lake. It was a really good experience, and I got to see lots of cute little sick kids. It actually made me paranoid to have kids because I saw how many different diseases affect childen! I spent time on the infant unit, neurotrauma unit, and the ICU. I gave a case study presentation today and turned in a huge report, and it feels good to be done! The next two months I just have little rotations at the State health department, a WIC clinic, Salt Lake aging services, and the food stamp program in Utah county. At the end of May I will be all finished and ready to take the RD exam!
In June, Dan and I are going to New York City for a couple of months! We are sooooo excited. We are going to be working for the same company that we did last summer, auditing daycares. The fact that we will be doing it in New York makes it so much cooler! So if anyone wants to take a trip this summer, you can come visit us and have a free place to stay in New York!

Yay for school!

2009-03-20T15:51:00.002-06:00

Dan and I both got some good news this past week. Dan found out he got into the Business program at BYU! He is super excited and has worked hard for this. Hopefully just another year and a half and he will be done! I would be looking forward to that moment because I might be able to see him a bit more often, but the plan is medical school after that so I should probably cherish the time we get to spend together right now. Since Dan will be in school for a while, I figured I might as well go back and join him, so I am going to start the Masters of Public Health program at BYU in the fall! I'm hoping we can get done around the same time. I'm actually pretty excited about starting the program, I just hope it won't be too incredibly hard or busy. So that is our exciting news for the week!

Disneyland!

2009-03-15T21:32:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we took off a few days and went to Disneyland with Dan's family. It was so much fun! We drove down on Wednesday and went to Disneyland on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and drove back Sunday. It was warm and sunny, and a much needed break! It was really fun to spend time with Dan's family. They are huge Disneyland fans and I thought is was so fun to see his little nieces and nephew get so excited about everything. We all stayed in the same hotel next to each other and it was good to catch up with everyone. Dan's little siblings Matt and Annie came back with us and stayed for a week with us in Provo, which definitely wasn't as exciting as Disneyland, but still fun!

2009-01-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

So Ashley asks me every time I talk to her if I am going post anything anytime soon. At first my excuse was that my camera broke, but Dan got me a new camera for Christmas, so I couldn't use that one anymore. But now I don't really have anything to take pictures of. Well since Ashley has never come to visit me in Provo, I thought I would post some pictures of our cute little apartment she has never seen. It is really little, but we really like it!
Dan just started a new semester and is really liking his classes. He has started some of his business classes and is still working on all of his pre-med classes as well. It keeps him busy! I am half way done with my internship. Right now I am at Primary Children's hospital in Salt Lake. It is a neat place to be, but the commute gets a little old! We are looking forward to our trip to Disneyland with Dan's family in February!

Chicago!

2008-11-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I am doing my Dietetic internship this school year through BYU. I am doing different rotations at different hospitals and clinics until May when I can take the Registered Dietitian exam and be a real Dietitian. So far I have really really enjoyed it. For the first couple of months I managed a little cafe on campus where I ordered all of the food and helped with developing recipes. For the past couple of weeks, I have started my clinical rotation at Utah Valley hospital. It has been really cool, and makes me excited to be able to work in a hospital when I am done with my internship. The most exciting thing of my internship was my trip to Chicago a couple of weeks ago with my Dietetics buddies. It was the American Dietetic Association's annual conference and expo. BYU paid for us to spend a few days in Chicago, and although I missed Dan a ton, I had lots of fun with my girlfriends. We went to the conference during the day where we learned lots in classes and got tons of free food and random junk from the expo! There were so many free granola bars and food samples, we fed some of the homeless people in Chicago with our samples while we walked down the streets! By the end of the conference, we knew what stands had the best samples, and who gave away the neatest pens, vitamins, and teaching tools! Needless to say, we only ate out for dinner, which included Chicago style pizza and hotdogs. We went on a boat tour through the city to see all of the neat architecture. We stayed right across the street from Grant Park (where Obama gave his acceptance speech) There is the really neat reflective bean as well as other kind of weird pieces of "art" in the park that we took pictures at. We also went to a Natural History museum and did some shopping on the magnificent mile. It was freezing cold in Chicago and super, super windy. I was glad to come home to 70 degree weather in Utah, and Dan of course!

Happy Halloween!!

2008-11-01T14:18:00.001-06:00

So I have been a slacker at updating my blog because my camera is broken. However, we spent Halloween with Chelsea and Cody, so Chelsea took some cute pictures that she let me borrow. We went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. I have to say our trunk was the coolest! It was a monster mouth and we made the kids reach in his "mouth" to take a piece of candy. Cody has a sub woofer (spelling?) in his trunk and it was beating which made the monster even scarier. The night before halloween our home teacher told us that he had an alligator suit we could borrow. Of course we couldn't turn that down, so I was an alligator and Dan was Steve Irwin the crocodile hunter. After the trunk or treat we went to a party and carved pumpkins and ate treats! It was really fun. I made the witches brew which included a green ice cube hand!

Pictures!

2008-08-09T17:36:00.001-06:00

I just found my cord in the back of my car. We sort of live out of our car, so it gets to be a little messy! Anyways, here are some pictures from DC. I think my favorite thing there was the library of congress. My pictures didn't turn out too well, but it was such a pretty building with statues and paintings all over. Our tour guide called it America's Roman temple. The museums were also amazing, but I didn't take too many pictures inside. The plane is Charles Lindbergh's plane that he flew over the Atlantic ocean with! That was in the Air and Space museum, which was Dan's favorite. In the capitol building there are 100 statues of people that were donated by each state. Do you recognize Brigham Young? We thought that was really cool. We saw so many famous things and the best part of all is that it was all free! You could spend a week there and not get bored. This is definitely my favorite place we have been all summer.

Washinton DC

2008-08-09T14:30:00.000-06:00

So, I lost the cord that connects my camera to my computer! I took so many good pictures while we were in Washington DC, and I can't even post them! But we did go to DC last weekend, and it was really really neat. There are so many things to see there--tons of museums and building and monuments. We were only there for two days, but we got to tour the capitol, library of congress, to to three Smithsonian museums, the Holocaust museum, and saw the monuments. It is really nice because all these things are next to each other, but we did do alot of walking! I will have to post pictures if I ever find my cord.

Barbecue, Chocolate, and Philadelphia

2008-07-27T11:44:00.001-06:00

Dan and I made it to our last stop this summer before we go back to school at the end of August. Philadelphia! We got here a week ago and have been able to see some of the sites so far. We drove to Alabama from Georgia so we could fly out of Birmingham. Before Alabama, we hadn't found any restaurant that we absolutely love. Usually we ask the hotel manager or the Daycare directors what the best place to eat is in each city. To be honest, I like my mom's home cooking way better than any place we have been. But, in Birmingham we went to the best barbecue! Barbecue is Dan's favorite, and he gobbled down like 6 ribs in 10 minutes. So if any of you are ever in Birmingham Alabama, you have to go to Dreamland's Barbecue. Their slogan is "There ain't nothin like em nowhere!"
So our first day in Philadelphia we went to see the famous liberty bell and independence hall. The Liberty Bell is a lot smaller than we imagined. We have yet to find the Rocky steps, but when we do, I will post some pictures. We spent quite a bit of our time this week lost in the ghetto of Philadelphia. And when I say ghetto, I mean the whole city! There is garbage, run down old apartments, and bums EVERYWHERE you go. After I got done with one review, the man in charge of the daycare came out side to watch me walk to my car at three in the afternoon! The streets are really confusing here as well. East coast drivers really are crazy. And you can't get out of the car and ask for directions, or you might get shot! At the end of this week, Dan and I convinced our boss to let us buy a GPS. It has been really nice!
Yesterday Dan and I drove to Hershey Pennsylvania to see the place where all of the chocolate is made! We took a tour to see how Hershey makes all of their chocolate, and went to the Hershey museum. It was a cute little town with street names like Cocoa and Chocolate Avenue.
Next weekend we are going to go to Washington D.C. and see the sites. It is crazy how fast this summer has gone by!

Georgia

2008-07-16T16:16:00.000-06:00

So this week Dan and I are in Georgia. We really like it here. It is not as hot as Louisiana, and not quite so ghetto. These pictures are of some of the old plantation homes that we have seen while we've been in the south. The pictures don't do them justice. They are really pretty and big for being so old!
In Atlanta, we went on a tour of the CNN studio. We saw the newroom and watched them record the live news. We also walked around the Olympic park. Our favorite thing was visiting Stone mountain. It is just this huge stone mountain in the middle of this flat, green landscape. There are some civil war generals carved into the side of the mountain. Supposedly the same people who carved Mount Rushmore did this too. We didn't hike to the top because we were too lazy! When it got dark there was a really cool laser show and fireworks display. We also went to my really good friend Lissy Murphy's homecoming talk in Atlanta last Sunday. It was really fun to see her again. Dan even got to play some frisbee with her brother, so he was happy! We are headed to Philadelphia on Saturday. We'll be there for the rest of the summer until we head back to good old Provo!

2008-07-05T08:33:00.000-06:00

Here are more pictures from New Orleans

New Orleans

2008-07-05T07:47:00.000-06:00

So this week Dan and I traveled down to New Orleans to start reviews here next week. We stopped for one night in Baton Rouge and went to the temple. It was really pretty! I only got one blurry picture because it was raining pretty hard when we got there. It is a really small temple, but really nice. It was built the same time as the Billings temple, so a lot of the interior decorations were the same as the Billings temple.
On our way to New Orleans, the interstate we drove on was pretty much a bridge built over a swamp. I can't believe how much water is around here!
We spent the fourth of July wandering around the French quarter in New Orleans. It was quite interesting! All the streets are super narrow and the buildings are right next to each other. They are super old buildings built by the French, so they all have that kind of French look. It was really crowded--Dan said it really reminded him of Europe. There was all sorts of people selling paintings and doing magic tricks on the side of the road. We even saw some gangster teenagers doing tap dances using tennis shoes that had the metal taps attached to the bottom! There was a really pretty Catholic Cathedral that we got a few pictures of. We are hoping to go on a tour of it when it is open. We also walked down the famous Bourbon street. Let me just say that it reminded me of Sodom and Gomorrah! Everything on that street was just wicked! I would see something and say "Dan, don't look to the left!" We avoided that street after that! There was lots of weird stores that sold all types of Mardi Gras apparel. The picture of Dan with the alligator head is a real alligator head! We ate dinner at the famous Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville cafe. It was really good! We went back to the hotel before dark because we have heard that you don't want to be out at dark in New Orleans. Then we watched Harry Potter on TV and watched fireworks out of our window!

2008-06-27T20:51:00.000-06:00

Dan and I have been in Alexandria Louisiana for the past week. It doesn't have yellow water like Monroe, so we can't complain! We have been working, relaxing, and playing plenty of Monopoly! It is our new favorite game. To be honest I don't think I ever really played the game before two months ago. We bought the game here for $10 dollars and we have probably played 20 to 30 times! Emily Elton, the other reviewer that was with us until this week, played too and she definitely saw the competitive/mean side of Dan and I! I won most of the time, so I really got into the game. We usually make up new rules every time we play, just to keep it exciting. We have now converted the Monopoly board into Sorry, which will work great because our friend Emily went to Texas to start her dietetic internship, so it is just Dan and I from now on!
Before we came to Alexandria we stayed in the little town of Natchitoches for a couple of days. It is the oldest permanent settlement in the whole Louisiana purchase. It had a really cute historic downtown with French style buildings and tons of old homes that have been turned into Bed and Breakfasts. My favorite one was the "Steel Magnolias" bed and breakfast. It is where the movie Steel Magnolias was filmed. I was so excited to see the house because that is one of my favorite movies! We also had some cajun fried meat pies while we were there.
We are excited to be heading to New Orleans next week for the fourth of July! It should be pretty interesting to see the city, even though I've heard it can be a scary place. We will stay in New Orleans for a week and then head to Atlanta Georgia for a week. After that, we will go to Philadelphia for the rest of the summer!

Road Trip!

2008-06-10T19:02:00.000-06:00

Well, pretty much the whole summer Dan and I are on a road trip for our job traveling around to a bunch of po-dunk little towns in Louisiana. But, this past weekend we decided to take a little trip to Hot Springs Arkansas. There is an amusement park/waterpark there and one of my favorite country bands Lone Star was performing there on Saturday! And we got in free to the concert if we went to the amusement park during the day! Of course I couldn't pass up this deal, so we went to Arkansas for the weekend. It was really, really pretty. There are so many trees everywhere, you can't even see like 10 feet off the road. Arkansas also has some "mountains" that are actually small hills, but that is better than flat Louisiana! We stayed in this little tourist town that is actually the hometown of Bill Clinton. The park was super fun, the only problem was that we had to wait in line for about an hour for each ride! That stunk, but once we got on the rides, they were super fun. There were upside down, twisty roller coasters and the best water slides I have ever been on. The Lone Star concert was probably the best concert I have ever been to. We luckily got to sit in the sixth row and they played all of the songs that I like of theirs! Even though Dan was dreading the concert, he ended up liking it! I am slowly getting him to like country more and more. Unfortunately my camera was out of batteries, so we didn't get any pictures.
Besides that, we have been staying in the city of Monroe doing our food reviews. Although the people are nicer here than in Shreveport, the city smells like sewage! Not only that, but the water is yellow. There was a sign in the bathroom of our hotel that said "Monroe is known for it's yellow water, but don't worry, it is perfectly safe to drink." However, I found out that every year the people of Monroe get a warning on their door saying that drinking this water for a long time can cause liver disease. Needless to say we bought bottled water! We are traveling around to a bunch of little towns for the next week or so, and are excited to leave the stinky city!

So long Shreveport!

2008-05-26T17:19:00.000-06:00

It has been three weeks since we came to Louisiana and so far we have spent the whole time in Shreveport. We are finally figuring out the city and can find our way almost anywhere . . . at least the important places like Walmart and Quiznoes. But this week we are moving east and will be staying in the towns of Ruston and Monroe Louisiana. I thought I should post some pictures of things we have done since we have been here in Shreveport.
Our fist adventure was to an alligator zoo. They had tons and tons of alligators that you could get really close to. They were kind of boring and just sat in the sun hardly moving. When the guy came to feed them it was really cool because they were jumping out of the water and climbing on top of each other just to get some food. There were also some other animals at the zoo that we saw.
Our favorite place here in Shreveport has been the Louisiana boardwalk. There is a huge river that runs right through the middle of downtown. On one side of the river is this really neat outside mall with tons of outlet stores (like Gap!) and restaurants and a movie theater. It was really pretty and just fun to walk around. We saw the movies Chronicles of Narnia two and the new Indiana Jones. I also got four sweaters at Gap for 25 dollars!
This past weekend we went to the "Mudbug Madness festival." It was just a bunch of people who get together and boil crawfish and drink. We only stayed for like 30 minutes because not only did the crawfish look disgusting, but it was soooo hot and humid out, we were all dripping sweat.
We had today off for Memorial Day, so we decided to go to this interactive science museum. It was actually pretty entertaining. Dan loved it and his favorite part was building this huge domino track.
Besides all that we have been getting the hang of our job, watching TV, and swimming in the pool. It has been a lot of fun and it seems like we have just been on vacation since school got out. I was really sad to miss Quincy's wedding and I wish I could have seen everyone that was there!

Our engagement story

2008-05-18T19:17:00.000-06:00

So Emily tagged me to tell our engagement story. Since I said I was going to blog regularly, I better respond to "tagging". Dan and I had went and looked at rings, but I didn't know if he had the ring yet, or not. It was just a regular night during the summer in Billings, August 8th to be exact. We went to a surprise birthday party at Candace Jones' house. Then we came back to my house to watch a movie and cuddle (one of our favorite things to do back then) We went out on the trampoline to look at the stars and talk. Dan left to go home at about midnight. So I went upstairs and got ready for bed and laid down to fall asleep. About fifteen minutes later it sounded like someone was throwing rocks at my window. I ignored it because I didn't know what to think. So finally after about five minutes of rocks being thrown at my window, I look out and there is Dan! So I go downstairs in my pajamas and there is Dan with a bouquet of flowers. He told me he forgot to give me something and I gave him a hug and I really thought that was it. Then he said that he wanted me to pick out something. He pulled out three different little ring boxes. At that point I knew what was going on and got really excited. I realized that I still had my retainer in my mouth, and since I knew there would be some kissing going on later I said "wait just a second right there" Then I ran inside at took out my retainer then ran back out side. Dan opened up the three boxes. Inside one of them was a ringpop, and the other two had really bright, shiny rings! So I picked one and Dan got down on one knee and said some really sweet stuff and we were both a little teary eyed, and then he asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes! We just talked in my front yard until about three in the morning. It was really cute and definately a surprise! Okay so now I am going to tag Ashley, Chelsea, Andrea, and Lacee!

I'm back!

2008-05-08T14:41:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone! So I know that most of you probably gave up on me and never check our blog anymore, but I have finally decided to start blogging on a regular basis now that school is over! A lot of exciting events have taken place lately. Dan and I finished this semester up just a couple of weeks ago. I am so excited for us to actually have free time to spend together. I graduated from BYU with my Dietetics degree! Although I do have to go back next year to complete an internship in order for me to be a dietitian. Since Dan has to go back to school in the fall it will work out just great. After graduation we went home to Billings for a week to visit our families. We slept in, ate home cooked meals, and bummed around. It was wonderful. We also stayed with my sister Ashley for a night and Dan's sister Katy for a couple of nights. It was really fun to spend that time with our families. Right now I am sitting in a hotel in Shreveport, Louisiana where we will be spending most of the summer! Dan and I are working for this company that audits government nutrition programs. I did this last summer in Texas, and this summer both Dan and I are working for this company all around Louisiana, Georgia, and maybe Virginia! We are really excited for this little adventure. We have been in Louisiana since Monday and have already adjusted to the humidity! Dan loves it. It is also really really green here. We have worked for three days doing these nutrition reviews at daycares. I am sure I will have plenty of interesting stories to blog about. We are definately the minority here and have visited daycares with names like Christ's Baptist Temple (Holiness) U.S.A. Let's just say we're not in Montana or Utah anymore!

2008-02-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

So here are some more pictures from our wedding! It was freezing outside, so in some of them I look like I am in pain! I really was very happy though--and Dan was too.

2008-01-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! So i finally agreed to start a blog now that I am married. I was informed by many members of the family that I just had to, so I consented only if Ashley would start it for me! Well of course our new blog was ready a couple hours after I told her she could! Married life is going just wonderfully! Dan and I have both been really busy with school and work and getting our apartment all set up but we are getting into the swing of things. I thought I would post the wedding pictures I have so far. I should be getting the CD of all the other ones in the mail any day now!

New bloggers

2008-01-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Ashley, Katie's sister and now that she married the next step is starting a family blog. So since she has been a little slow to get started, I thought I'd help her out and get it going! Yes, a blog to keep the rest of the world updated on the daily/weekly going-ons of a newly wed couple. So your welcome Katie, now post some pictures get addicted, it's great!