Knutson Family

December

2011-12-28T14:44:00.005-07:00

December has been such a great month! We have had so much fun doing things and spending time together. We started the month off with our ward Christmas party. Unfortunately, Trevor was at drill that weekend. I swear, he misses everything because of drill. Luckily, he only has 3 more drills left and we'll be done with the ARMY for good! Anyway, Santa came to the party and Kaydance was so excited to get to see him until we actually went to see him. Once she caught a glimpse of him, she was pretty hesitant. I'm surprised she was even smiling in this picture. She told him she wanted "toys and presents" for Christmas.

Later that evening, it was the annual Electric Light Parade. All the businesses on Main Street turn off their lights for the parade. It was fun to take Kaydance to that, but it was so cold.

A few days later we put up our tree and decorated it. Kaydance loved helping put the bulbs on. We couldn't stop laughing because everytime she said bulb, it sounded like "boob." She's too cute!

Christmas day was a long one and we were running non-stop from 8 am until 11 pm. Kaydance was such a trooper, even without a nap. She was so excited to see what Santa Claus had brought her and loved opening all her presents. She got spoiled, like always. We had a great day together as a family, though.

We went on a hike a few days after Christmas with my sister and her soon-to-be-husband. The weather was beautiful, but I remember the hike being a bit easier last year. Then again, I wasn't 7 months pregnant last year. Trevor packed Kaydance around in a backpack and I felt kind of bad for him carrying all that extra weight until I remembered I was packing around 35 extra pounds too! I haven't been great at taking pictures during my pregnancies, but this one will have to do. I'm 30 weeks here.

I think that's about all. What a great couple of weeks to wrap up the year. Bring on 2012!

Fun in the desert

2011-12-13T16:44:00.003-07:00

Just to catch up a little We had a great Thanksgiving. All of Sarah's family came home and we had dinner with them on Thursday. We had some great appetizers and played ping-pong until dinner was ready. It was very relaxing and delicious. Since most of Sarah's family had to leave on Friday, we had dinner with my family then. All my bros and their families were here too. On Saturday since the weather was so beautiful we decided to go on a little hike. More of a drive, actually, cause Jordan wanted to get his new Expedition off road. It was really fun. We went to a really cool place called Tusher Tunnel. It is a cave that goes all the way through a giant rock in the middle of the desert. Great place to take the kids.

Back and better than ever

2011-11-02T14:16:00.005-06:00

Many of you might remember a few years ago on Halloween when Trevor and I dressed up as gothic people. To refresh your memories, click h ere. This Halloween, we didn't really get creative, and just decided to do the same again, but with more accessories. Trevor won best costume at our party this year too.

This year Kaydance wanted to be Snow White. I prepped her all about getting dressed up and trick-or-treating and whole bit for a couple weeks. She was so excited about it all until the day was here. She didn't want to be in her costume at all or have anything to do with it. But the minute I mentioned she would get to wear makeup she was all over the idea. (She LOVES when I "put makeup on her") She ended up being such a cute Snow White.

We went to the trunk-or-treat and she caught on pretty quick to the idea of getting candy. And since we didn't want to scare all the kids away with our goth costumes, we changed to something a little more family friendly.

Better late than never

2011-10-26T14:23:00.003-06:00

I guess it's about time that we announce this officially. We are having a baby. There, I said it. Ya happy? I feel like a little bit of a "bad" mom being so laid back about it. With Kaydance, we could hardly wait a month to tell everyone; and we had it all planned out. With this one, it's kind of been more of whenever the topic of babies comes up, we say something. It's not that I'm not excited about this baby, because believe me, I AM EXCITED!! I guess life just gets in the way. So if you haven't already heard the news, consider yourself in the loop now. And please accept our apologies for not filling you in earlier.

To date, I'm 21 weeks, know there is a baby boy growing inside of me, not feeling sick, feeling really tired and unmotivated, and loving being pregnant again! Time is just flying by this time. I can't believe I'm already closer to my due date than finding out I was pregnant. Our official due date is March 3rd, 2012; just in time for Trevor to get out of the ARMY. So, we're looking forward to March for a couple of reasons now!

I'm not going to post any ultrasound pics (mostly because you can't really tell what you're looking at) or belly pics (because I haven't taken any yet), but I plan to put some up the further along I get.

Cardboard Boat Race

2011-09-05T17:36:00.003-06:00

It was the 2nd annual cardboard boat race in Moab this year and Trevor and the rest of the Elder's Quorum in our ward decided to make a boat to compete. They spent so many hours working on it and they all had so much fun. It did pretty well in the race too...2nd place. They had 8 men in there, altogether weighing over 2,000 pounds. That's a lot of cardboard.

TWO!

2011-08-23T15:13:00.003-06:00

Kaydance turned 2 this month. She is such a little person, and we absolutely LOVE it. She has (mostly) learned how sing Happy Birthday and was so excited that her birthday was coming.

She loved helping me make her cake, and especially loved the cleaning up...

And she got spoiled, as usual, with all her presents.

We just can't believe our little baby is two years old now. And speaking of two and babies....

catch up

2011-08-08T16:11:00.007-06:00

We've been pretty busy since I last posted. I think I'll mostly let the pictures do the talking. Trevor and I got to go to Park City for a week for bus training/anniversary celebrating. Four years down, an eternity to go. We got in lots of shopping, eating, movie watching, playing, and SPENDING MONEY! We did get to hike to Timpanogas Cave on our way home- a first for me. Trevor had been before, but afterwards we figured it had been about 10 years ago. He didn't remember the cave being that small.

Fourth of July was lots of fun. Trevor's cousins came down and we spent time on the mountains with them. When it came time for fireworks, we just stayed home and did some of our own. Kaydance loved doing the sparklers and the poppers (even though she didn't have great success.)

And at the end of July we got to go to an AWESOME concert with our parents. Journey, Foreigner, and Night Ranger. It doesn't get much better than Jukebox Hero live.

And now for a few random points. My dad has his own little zoo in the backyard. Currently, he has goats, a turkey, pigeons, and doves. At least, that's all I'm aware of. Every time we even mention Papa Rusty's house, Kaydance immediately wants to feed the animals. Papa is so good to let her feed them. She absolutely loves it!!

And here's just another picture of the red head. It's not often that she falls asleep just anywhere. She has a routine for nap time, which is wonderful, but it's always so cute when she falls asleep somewhere random.

Growing Up

2011-05-13T10:44:00.004-06:00

Our little Kaydance has been doing a lot of growing up these past few months. First, she has started sleeping in a big girl bed and she loves it. She doesn't sleep as long as she did when she was in her crib, but it is a lot easier getting her to go to bed. She gets really excited to get to sleep in her new bed, instead of screaming because she has to get in a crib.

Every night before bed we say family prayers. Kaydance has always had a hard time holding still with her arms folded. Most of the time she just lays down on the floor and plays while either Trevor or I say it. But lately she has wanted to say the prayer. It is the cutest thing. She copies us word for word and loves to have her turn every 3 days to say it.

One big step that she has taken is her interest in the toilet. She is only 21 months, but has started potty training herself. I'm not sure that I'm really ready for that, but I'm trying to do my best. She tells us all the time that she has to "poop in the potty", and more often than not it actually happens.

When she started having success, I wanted to reward her. I know that candy is not the best option, but that's what I went with. She caught on really quick that every time she went potty she got a piece of chocolate. Pretty soon, she just started saying she needed to go so she could get some chocolate. Luckily, we've worked our way out of that one, and we just do a silly/happy/celebration song and dance when she goes. She likes that well enough I guess, because she hasn't asked for chocolate after going in about a week.

We still have her in diapers most of the time, but I've put on some panties a few times and she loves wearing them around. She was so excited to help me pick out some princess ones at the store.

This little red head of ours is getting so big and so smart. Speaking of red hair, hers is getting pretty long now. I actually tried to do a pony tail today, instead of the pigtails on top, and it looked so cute.

We're so glad that this beautiful little girl is ours forever. WE LOVE YOU Kaydance!!

Got Milk?

2011-04-04T16:12:00.003-06:00

Let me just start by saying that Trevor drinks a lot of milk. I mean A LOT. I go to the store about twice a week, and each time I pick up at least 4 gallons of milk. It is because of this that the idea of getting another fridge/freezer for the garage has come up. I need a fridge just for milk. SERIOUSLY.

We were talking to our friends about this, and all the boys started talking about the "gallon challenge." Most of the them had tried to do it, but none had ever succeeded. Trevor had never tried it, and so we picked a day that we would all be together for dinner for him to do it.

The whole challenge is to drink a gallon of milk within an hour and hold it down until the hour is up. He started out strong, drinking about a third of the gallon at once. (This is a pretty usual amount for him to drink at a meal.) He kept it nice and cold in the fridge and drank a little more about every 10 minutes or so. He was getting pretty full, but never felt like he was going to throw up. He had about 10 minutes left of the hour and he decided to just finish what was left (about 1/8 of the gallon) so there would be no questioning as to whether it was within the hour or not. He had 3 people timing him, and he finished the gallon with 6 minutes to spare.

I'm proud to say that my husband successfully drank a full gallon of 1% milk in 54 minutes (equating to about 1600 calories. YIKES) and gained the respect and recognition from his fellow men, or should I say boys. They were all envious of him and in awe to see such a sight. He never did throw up, but missed out on the delicious navajo tacos we had that night because he was so full.

Winter

2011-01-19T14:59:00.007-07:00

I'm a bad blogger... what can I say? It's been almost a whole SEASON since I last posted. So, instead of trying to write multiple entries to fill you all in, I decided to combine everything and just make one post with LOTS of pictures.

Thanksgiving is always awesome in Moab, since we are both from here and both of our families are still here. We spent Thursday with Trevor's family and then Friday with my family. It's so great having two days of feasting followed by about a week of leftovers. Since our parents still do all the cooking, ( I'm a little nervous for the day to come when I have to make the Thanksgiving dinner myself) I decided to make a creative dessert. It didn't end up looking quite like the picture, but still tasted just as good.

Christmas, again, was spent trying to divide our time between both our families. Thanksgiving is a little easier since we do two different days, but there's only one Christmas Day. Plus, all of our siblings on both sides were here over the holidays.

It only took Kaydance a few minutes to get the hang of opening her presents, and she had plenty to open. She got spoiled; we started at our own house, then moved on to Grandma Knutson's house, then to Grandma Merrie and Grandpa David's house, and then finally to Grandma and Grandpa Tangren's house. It was a long day filled with opening presents, playing with presents, visiting, and eating lots of junk food. I love Christmas!

This winter was also Kaydance's first real time being out in the snow. I think we took her out for a few minutes last year, but she was only about 4 months old then, so that doesn't count. She loved being out there and building a snowman with us. She loves snowmen now. We taught her how to sing "The Snowman Song" and she sings it all the time now... so cute! (I need to get a video of her singing it.)

We did, however, get to go on a hike a few days after Christmas when it was a little warmer. It was actually really nice weather and some of us were in shorts and t-shirts. Kaydance loved being outside. I guess I've been keeping her inside most of the winter because I HATE the cold. I know that shouldn't keep her inside, but I'm still learning that, I guess.

All in all, we had a great winter, minus the snow. We loved spending so much time with all of our family eating way too much food and staying up way too late.

I love this little girl!

Fairy Princess

2010-11-17T16:25:00.004-07:00

I know this is way late, but aren't my posts always late? For Halloween we decided to dress Kaydance up as a fairy princess. My mom bought her this cute tutu and the fairy wings for her birthday a few months ago, so we decided to put them to good use. She made the cutest little fairy! Trevor and I, on the other hand, weren't so enthusiastic about dressing up this year. Maybe when we have kids a little older who will remember dressing up, I will dress up with them.

We only took Kaydance trick-or-treating to "The Grandma's houses" so as to not take up the entire night. But of course, she has 5 that live in Moab. It ended up taking us about 3 hours to complete the rounds. She made out like a banshee, and therefore, I have been eating way too much candy the last few weeks. :(

Getting Ready

Silly Baby

2010-10-25T10:49:00.003-06:00

Kaydance is one of those kids who gets really wound up when she gets tired and doesn't want to go to bed. We took this video of her one night when she was being especially crazy. She actually settled down a little when she saw we were recording her.

Growing up

2010-09-24T14:56:00.003-06:00

Kaydance is growing up too fast!! We've been horrible at taking pictures of her the past month or so, but we did get some cute ones the other day. Her hair is finally long enough to put in pig tails, and we just can't get over how cute she looks with them :) She is learning all sorts of new things and becoming quite the talker. She loves to play with other kids, and has recently learned to SCREAM AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS if she doesn't get her way or get what she wants. I can handle it okay when we're at home because I don't mind letting her scream for a few seconds until she gets over it, but when we are in public, and especially in church, we have our share of embarrassing moments. Nonetheless, our little girl is growing up and becoming not-so-little anymore.

Just after a bath

And after she ran away from us

J
I know this one is blurry, but I just love this classic Kaydance smile.

Good times and great oldies

2010-09-17T07:38:00.006-06:00

Those of you who know me well are aware of the fact that I love oldies music. 50's, 60's, 70's and even some from the 80's. It is real music, real singing, and you can dance to most of it. Good stuff. I also am of the opinion that the majority of today's music is CRAP! Now there are a few exceptions. For example I really like Maroon 5. And every now and then I can enjoy at least one rap song if it has a cool beat. And that is only because it reminds me of high school when, for a brief time, Moab was able to pick up a radio station from Grand Junction that played a lot of rap. Songs like Airforce One, Magic Stick, and The Thong Song were popular at the time. They were played at basketball games and stuff, but on my own time it was all oldies.
So the other day I was messing around on playlist.com listening to music and what not. And I came across a song I thought was pretty cool. It's called Big Shot Pimpin. It is the best of the oldies and some music from my school days. They mixed Big Shot by Billy Joel and Big Pimpin by Jay-Z. It's kind of cool. If you're interested go check it out. Go to playlist.com, on the home page under featured playlists click on the one called made by you. Its track 20. Enjoy the blend.

Happy Birthday Kaydance!

2010-08-25T11:59:00.006-06:00

I can not believe that Kaydance is already one year old. It has gone by so fast, but we have loved every minute of it. We had a family birthday party for her and she loved being the center of attention and getting thoroughly spoiled. I made a special little cake for Kaydance to just dig in to, but she wasn't interested in the least; she just cried and whined when we tried to get her to eat any.

Other than that, our lives have been pretty uneventful. We have had a couple of major rain storms, and because a portion of our yard is just sand, we have had one giant mud puddle outside our garage door. We thought Kaydance would like to go out and play in it; she loves being outside and she loves playing in water of any kind. Once she figured out that we wanted her to play in it, she loved it.

We also got to take Kaydance on her first camping trip in July for a family reunion. She actually did better than I expected, and I think she had a pretty good time.

That's all for now.

Work and Play

2010-07-11T13:18:00.002-06:00

Our lives have been pretty crazy since I last posted. First of all, we bought a house. It is in Moab, where we always wanted to end up, and we absolutely love it! We closed on it at the end of May and are still trying to get everything unpacked and settled in. Trevor was gone for pretty much the whole month of June for trainings with the ARMY and the school district, so I was left to do most of the cleaning and unpacking.

For our 3 year anniversary, which we celebrated over 4th of July weekend, although it is really June 30, we went to Stadium of Fire in Provo. It was awesome and we had a great time. I have always loved celebrating Independence Day, but I get a different feeling about it being married to a soldier. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it does make me feel a bit more patriotic, I guess.

Trevor is still working for the school district, and I have recently started working at Moab Dental Health Center as a hygienist. I love my job! I'm so glad that I finished school and can now make money cleaning teeth! As for Kaydance, she has mastered the art of walking and is becoming more of a handful every day; but we love every minute of it!

We have been staying busy trying to keep up on all of our responsibilities, but have still found some time to play and be together as a family! We are loving life right now :)

Thanks and gratitude

2010-05-10T10:26:00.002-06:00

Here's to me finishing school!!! This was my second time graduating from college, and it feels great to be done. Again. I now have an AS in Community Health and an AAS in Dental Hygiene. I feel so accomplished.... sorta. I mean, 5 years of college to get two associates degrees?

Whatever.

The past nine months have been such a blur, have drug on and on, have been such a trial, and have been some of the best months of my life. Looking back now, I can't believe that I actually did it. Me. I did it. With a brand new baby and no husband; I did it.

But, really, I can't take all the credit. I had so much help from so many people. Here's my condensed list of people to thank:
1. Heavenly Father - for always listening and being there for me, when no one else was
2. My parents/in-laws - for always being willing to watch Kaydance and encourage me. Who knows how many phone calls I made to my mom complaining and on the verge of tears; but ended up being a pep talk that always made me feel better and ready to conquer.
3. My siblings/ siblings- in-law - for always reminding me how smart and strong I was. And for all the calls and emails to check up on me.
4. Janel - for always being willing to babysit a sick Kaydance at the last minute because no one else would take her. And for the many, many dinners, and talks of encouragement.
5. My visiting teachers - for bringing me dinners, and being faithful in coming to see me every month. Knowing that they were always willing to do anything for me made everything seem less daunting.
6. Kaydance - for always keeping me company while Trevor was gone and teaching me better time management skills.

And last, but certainly not least
7. Trevor - for being strong when I wasn't, for providing for our family, for encouraging me to finish, for being proud of me, for loving me, for sharing my sorrows and my joys, and for telling me I could do it, and for letting me.

I'm grateful for the friends I made, I'm grateful for the things I got to experience, I'm grateful for the knowledge I gained, I'm grateful for the self-reliance I learned, but most of all, I'm just grateful to be done!!!

Firsts

2010-04-15T22:09:00.006-06:00

This post is a bit late, but none the less, here it is.

This last month has brought a couple of firsts for our family. Mainly Kaydance.

We all got to spend Easter/Conference weekend together as a family, and had a ton of fun. Kaydance got to go on her first 4-wheeling trip and she loved it. She also got to do her first Easter egg hunt. She just gets cuter and cuter by the day.

Kaydance also got her first black eye. She is getting pretty good at getting around these days. She likes to pull herself up and hold on to furniture and be where all the action is. Trevor and I happened to be at the computer and had Kaydance over by us. She pulled herself up using the drawer handle on the computer desk and then turned her head around to look at me. Before she knew it, her feet slipped, I guess from trying to turn around but keep her feet in place, and she hit her cheek on the drawer handle. Poor girl!

Right before the incident

And right after

And lastly, Kaydance took her first steps over Easter weekend. Sadly to say, she hasn't made much more progress than this. She's a chicken. But she is doing pretty good at the crawling.

I did it!

2010-03-22T14:22:00.003-06:00

In order to become a dental hygienist one must: 1) go to an accredited dental hygiene school and receive a diploma certifying attendance and graduation, 2) take a written and clinical board exam on anesthesia, 3) take a written national board exam on EVERYTHING learned in 2 years at dental hygiene school, and 4) take a clinical hygiene test - meaning clean someone's teeth and have an examiner check to make sure you got all the yucky stuff off.

As most know, I am going to become a dental hygienist, and am well on my way to completing the requirements! I will be graduating from dental hygiene school at the end of April, and will receive my diploma! But, really, school isn't all THAT hard. So #1 was pretty easy to accomplish. Requirement #2 was a little different, however. This past Thursday was our anesthesia exams. We had both the written and clinical the same day. Most of the girls in my class also took this test the same day as me.

Here's how it went down...

We stayed at our teacher's house the night before (she only lives about 15 minutes from where the exam was) and just relaxed and had some cafe rio. In the morning we had a big breakfast and drove to Weber State University, where the test was taking place. The written exam was first and consisted of 55 questions. You had to pass with a 75% in order to continue on and take the clinical exam. It was a quick hour to take the test and then a stressful 15 minutes of waiting to find out our scores. Luckily, we all passed!!!

We went to get some lunch and calm our nerves for a little while since we all had our clinical exam in the afternoon. I was actually the last person of the day to perform the clinical portion (I would estimate maybe 40 - 50 girls taking this exam that day).

In the exam, you have to perform two different injections, two of the hardest to give, in order to prove your ability to give anesthesia. I went in and set up my chair and had my patient waiting. The examiners came over and I started the first injection. No problem. They said I could go on to the second one. I started the second injection, and was almost half way done when they said to "STOP AND HALT" I knew that was bad. They made me wait while they deliberated. They came back and told me to dismiss my patient. I knew I had failed. I got my results, and sure enough, I had passed the first but failed the second injection.

Now, if you fail, you have the option to repeat it that day, for $120 that is. I decided to do it. I had to find a new patient to perform my second injection on and fill out all the paperwork again. I was pretty flustered at this point knowing that I had failed, paying $120 bucks, filling out paperwork, finding a new patient, being the last person of the day, and having everyone, LITERALLY EVERYONE, waiting on me so we could all go home, including the examiners. I tried to calm myself, and luckily everything went as planned the second time and I passed. What a day!

But the good news is that I am now certified to administer local anesthesia in a dental office, and I'm half way to completing all the requirements to finally be done with school and start making money!! Here is a picture of all the girls that took the exam with me and our success memo.

in a pickle

2010-02-25T18:54:00.007-07:00

Those who know me well know that I like to eat my grilled cheese sandwiches with BBQ chips, chocolate milk, and dill pickles. Tonight just so happened to be one of those nights when I enjoyed such a meal. Now some may think this to be an odd combination of foods, my husband included, but it was how I was raised. I remember having said meal on many occasions, especially during the summers.
Well, tonight as I was trying to enjoy my dinner, Kaydance began to get a little fussy. I had her sitting in her walker beside me with toys and such to entertain her. But of course, all she wanted was what I had. I decided to give her a pickle to see what she would do, and to occupy her with something so I could enjoy my dinner. She LOVED it! She didn't even make a face or anything. She was pretty upset with me when I took it away, but she was getting pretty dirty... check out her shirt!

Looks like she's on her way to growing up on the same meal I did!

On another note, we also gave her a lime one night (again, part of our dinner), and she loved that too. We were sure she was going to make a sour face, but she didn't even flinch. She only started to cry when the juice got in her dry little cheeks.... poor girl!

She's just TOO cute!!

same ol' same ol'

2010-01-30T19:34:00.004-07:00

There's not much that's new, but just thought I would do a quick update:

- Kaydance is now 5 1/2 months old and is getting so big. She loves going to the day care center while I go to school (although she's already been sick twice since school started less than a month ago). She also loves to eat... EVERYTHING! I've been letting her "practice" feeding herself...

- I have been trying to study like crazy for my boards, which are in March and May, so that I will be able to get my license and be a practicing hygienist!

- Trevor spends the majority of his time working and driving. He is getting pretty sick of the 3-hour-one-way drive every weekend. But it is always worth it!

Here are just a few more of the latest and greatest pictures of Kaydance:

Holiday Fun

2010-01-06T20:11:00.004-07:00

Well folks, it's that time of year again... and no, I'm not talking about new years, I'm talking about that time when school starts up again. For me, I always have the greatest Christmas break, and then I get the "Sunday night blues" just thinking about going back to another semester of school. But the good news is, that this is my last semester of school!! I can't believe I will be done in just 4 short months (at least I hope it will be short.)

As for the break, it was probably the greatest one I've ever had. I got to spend the whole time with Trevor and the rest of our families. That three weeks was the longest consecutive time I've spent with Trevor in the past four months. It was just wonderful :) Kaydance was thoroughly spoiled, and Trevor and I got some nice things, as well.

I don't have much else to say, I really just wanted to post some pictures of our Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays... enjoy!

Too cute!

2009-12-14T16:22:00.004-07:00

Over Thanksgiving break we got Trevor's brother to take some family pictures for us. He did such a great job and Kaydance is just too cute that I have to share :)

Sad

2009-11-22T19:45:00.003-07:00

My two most favorite people in world had to leave me tonight. I'm sad.

However, I feel like I'm getting a lot accomplished while I have some time to myself without worrying about anyone else... ya know, like posting stuff on my blog :)

Luckily, it's only for two days until I get to go home for Thanksgiving for a week! I can hardly wait. I'll have to work hard these two days to get all my homework done so I can play hard while I'm home with ALL my family!

A few of my favorite things

2009-11-05T20:32:00.002-07:00

I must say that I haven't been as good lately about taking pictures of Kaydance. But I have gotten a few videos of her. She has been such a chatter box lately and loves to coo and talk.

This is one where she fell asleep with a pacifier and then pulled it out. I guess she still thought it was in there. Watch her lips:

And lastly, this is one of her in the tub. She absolutely loves bath time. She splashes around so much I usually end up almost as wet as her. I have been meaning to get a video of her, and when I finally did, she gave me a little surprise... listen and watch closely... This was just too funny not to share :)

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T18:59:00.003-06:00

Photo Booth

2009-10-25T21:16:00.003-06:00

Let me just start by saying that I have one of the best teachers in the world! I love Mrs. Knight to death and will surely miss her when I graduate. Not only does she know what she's talking about concerning dental hygiene, and can teach it to me, but she also shows us awesome videos during class so we don't get bored. Here is one of the latest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47NqM-qMlRA

Not a happy camper

2009-10-19T18:02:00.005-06:00

Okay, so first of all, Kaydance was having some issues and so I took her to the doctor. He thought that she might have a milk protein allergy and so he suggested I put her on soy formula and stop eating dairy for a week. (At this point in time I was breast feeding as much as possible and supplementing with milk-based formula.) So, I took his advice and put her on soy formula and quit drinking my precious milk. I also could not eat cheese, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, ice cream, or any other grocery item containing any of the above mentioned ingredients. That was probably one of the hardest weeks of my life.... seriously. I thought I might starve. I was going to eat a salad, but of course, no ranch, and who wants just lettuce? How about some spaghetti... without cheese? I don't think so. Grilled cheese sandwich? No. Tacos with cheese and sour cream? No. No. No. No. Everything. No. But the good news was that Kaydance was doing much better and I was still able to breastfeed.

After a week of that I decided I was going to die without any dairy in my diet. I seriously considered going with soy milk, but realized that would only allow me to have a glass of milk with dinner or a bowl of cereal, but still no cheese, yogurt, etc, etc. It was at this point that I decided I would just stop breast feeding and go strictly with formula. Today was the first day of this new diet for Kaydance and she was doing fairly well until she needed to releive herself. She is quite constipated and not too pleased with me. And to add to this miserable-ness, I took her to the doctor again to get her 2 month immunizations. She looks so sad and just moans with discontent.

I feel bad for doing this to her all at once, but I guess now I'll just have to deal with her fusiness for a few days and it will be over for a while. I really don't want to go to school tomorrow. I'm seriously thinking about calling my teacher to tell her I can't come in because my baby needs me, and my patient cancelled for tomorrow and I can't find another one. I don't want to leave her with the baby sitter, not only because she probably won't be the best baby for her, but because I want to be the one to comfort her and be there for her.

The past few weeks I was doing pretty good about having a schedule and being alright with things the way they are in our lives, but this past week has been a struggle for me. I was ornery because I couldn't find anything to eat, but I also felt like I was leaving my baby and not being the mother that I need or want to be. I am SO READY to be done with school so I can stay at home with her. That is what I want the most. I don't feel quite up to par on motherhood because I leave her everyday, I no longer breastfeed her (which is one of the things I enjoyed most and made me feel motherly), and now I can not comfort her when she is in pain.

And not only is she in pain, but I'm in a little (or maybe a lot) of pain as well. I feel like I did a few days after I had Kaydance and my milk came in; and all the fun the goes along with it. (I won't elaborate here, but I'm guessing that some of you mothers know what I'm talking about, and perhaps a few select people whom I elaborated to at that time about said condition and how I felt about it)

I guess I just need some encouragement to get me through all of this. It was really hard at first, then got a little easier the next few weeks, but is now back to being super difficult. Please pray for me and Kaydance that we can have the strength to make it through and to be happy while we do it.

ummm.....

2009-10-07T13:08:00.005-06:00

I woke up sick this morning. I absolutely DESPISE being sick. Throw up, diarrhea, chills, fatigue, achiness, and hungry/thirsty because you can't eat/drink anything without throwing it up. That's how I'm feeling right now, if you care to sympathize. I dreaded calling my teacher to tell her I was sick and wouldn't be at clinic today, but it went well, and turns out 2 of the other girls were home sick also. I tried to make my attitude a little positive and thought this would be a good chance to get some long-needed homework done. (I was in fact, complaining to my mom last night about how I didn't have enough time to get it all done, and now I was home all day with nothing else to do.) Turns out: I am utterly and completely worthless when I'm sick. I have NO ENERGY at all. But I can not sleep because my stomach won't let me. So here I sit, miserable, and piled in every bit as much homework as I had last night. Ok, there's my negativeness.

Better news is that we got to bless Kaydance the week before conference in Moab with all of our family members. It was so much fun and Kaydance was absolutely beautiful in the dress my mom made for her! Thanks mom!

A few more random things:

The other sunday I got Kaydance ready for church first and then put her in her swing to be entertained while I finished getting myself ready. Here she is when I got her ready,

and this is what I found when I came back.

And here are just a few more cute pictures of her from the past few weeks.

Once you start, you can't stop

2009-09-13T17:35:00.003-06:00

Crying that is. At least for me. I'm starting to dislike Sundays a little bit now-a-days. I have always loved going to church and taking Sunday naps and eating big Sunday afternoon dinners, but lately, that just hasn't been the case. I still love church, but we seem to miss out on the naps and dinner a lot just so we have a few more waking moments together before Trevor has to leave.
It seems like all day Sunday I try to hold back the tears I know are eventually going to come at the end of the day. Some of them are tears of joy, but mostly tears of sadness. It makes me so happy to see Trevor holding Kaydance and just loving her like he does. That's when I have some of those tears of joy. And then when it finally comes time for him to leave, it's like I can't help myself. I can't hold it back any longer and I just weep. I hate having a tear streaked face and a snotty nose as the last thing Trevor sees as he's walking out the door, but I can't bring myself to be happy in that moment and smile. I'm not glad that he's leaving; I'm not glad to be starting another week alone. I always feel overwhelmed thinking about everything I have to do that week. I feel stressed out before the days even start. School is the biggest thing because I never want to study when I get home from school. And although I don't want to, when I do, I usually just fall asleep reading or end up taking care of a crying baby who I never get to see all day. And then on the weekends I don't do any studying because I want to spend every minute with Trevor and Kaydance. Then there's more stress about the fact that I have to take care of the house and Kaydance, oh yeah, and myself. Sometimes I forget that last part. Between school and homework, housework and Kaydance, I just forget to take care of me. Luckily I have awesome family, friends and visiting teachers who bring me dinner and always ask how I'm doing. I couldn't do it without them.
I know this post is kind of random, but I had to get my feelings out. I'm not asking for sympathy, (although it might be appreciated), I just need to vent.

On a lighter note, here are a few more pictures of the little one:

Labor Day Fun

2009-09-11T10:50:00.005-06:00

For Labor Day we decided to hike to Timpanogas Cave with my sister Natalie and her boyfriend Zeniff. We knew you could buy tickets in advance, but we didn't. By the time we got up there, all the tours of the cave were sold out, so we didn't go. Instead, we got a map of a few other hikes around the same area on the Alpine Loop and decided on Cascade Springs. There were so many people up there, a lot of them being idiots who got their camper trailers stuck and others who practically parked in the middle of the road. It was taking us so long to get there, I decided to make Kaydance a bottle and just have Natalie feed her in the back seat. Trevor finally made it through all the crowds and was now cruising on the winding road and had asked if anyone was getting car sick. Not even one minute after he asked, Kaydance proceeded to throw up all 4 ounces of her formula all over herself and her carseat. We ended up having to pull over and use the trunk as a make-shift changing table.

She was pretty happy after that.

We finally made it to Cascade springs and hiked around a little bit. It was a fun little hike, and Kaydance especially enjoyed it.

After we were done walking around we decided to head over to Midway, since it wasn't too far from where we were. We drove over the mountain to Midway and through Heber and then over to Park City. We went to lunch there and then decided to check out the Olympic Park. Trevor and I actually decided to do the zipline there, seeing as how last time I was 8 months pregnant. It is the steepest zipline in the world and you go up to 50 miles and hour. It was really fun.

Kaydance

2009-09-05T09:25:00.007-06:00

Apparently I haven't been putting enough pictures and such of Kaydance on here. So, here a few of my favorites and a few videos.

This is a real smile. She was about 2 weeks old when I took this. Unfortunately the flash went off and made her close her eyes, but I just love that gummy smile.

First time at church.

This video is just of her sleeping, not really super exciting, but she's just so cute!

Here's one of her when she's just waking up, see how close she is to rolling over already?!?!

These next two are the things that we do when Trevor is here on the weekends:

Bitter Sweet

2009-08-30T16:59:00.004-06:00

Well, the craziness of the next eight months in our life has officially begun. School started on the 26th for me, which brought about some mixed feelings. It was kind of fun and exciting to be starting school again, especially since it's my last year, but at the same time, it was really hard for me to have to leave Moab and be here with a two week old baby who I have to leave with a sitter everyday in order to go to classes to get a degree that I don't plan on using extensively.
This first week went okay considering the fact that I didn't have a sitter (thanks to my mom and sister for helping out last minute), my books, or a patient to practice on. I'm hoping these next few weeks will go a little smoother, though.
Things without Trevor here are really different for me. I mean, there have been times when he has had to leave me alone for a few days, even 3 weeks at a time, but I always knew that he would be back to stay for a long time before he had to leave again. And adding a baby to the equation makes things a little more challenging. There have been a few times already, even though it's only been one week, that I have really wondered if I could do it all; that I have doubted my abilities; that my emotions have gotten the best of me; that I have thought seriously about just giving up and going back to Moab to be with Trevor and our families. I hate leaving Kaydance in the morning knowing I won't see her for the next eight hours, I hate coming home to an empty house, I hate making dinner for one and eating by myself, I hate going to bed alone knowing that the next day will only bring more of the same, but I will only be more sleep deprived than the day before. But I love having Kaydance here with me, she brings me so much joy and keeps me company, and I love my apartment, as empty as it is sometimes, and I love that I have food to eat and a kitchen to cook it in, and I love the fact that I at least get some sleep each night, albeit only about 3 hours at a time.

I love that Trevor's job is so willing to work with him and that he's able to come up on the weekends, I love that he is so willing to help in whatever way he can, I love that he always wants to hold and play and cuddle with Kaydance, I love that he makes the time to be with me, I love that he tells me I'm doing a good job and that he loves me. But I hate the fact that I have to go four days without seeing him, I hate that he is only here for three days at a time, I hate that the time goes so quickly, I hate thinking that he is missing out on a part of Kaydance's life, and I hate having to say goodbye to him every Sunday.

As you can see, it's all bitter sweet for me. I'm still trying to get used to this whole idea and lifestyle change. It will be hard. So hard. I know that the Lord doesn't give us trials that we can not overcome, but sometimes I still wonder about this one. So, please, be patient with me.

Kaydance is HERE!!!

2009-08-15T19:02:00.006-06:00

The long awaited baby is here. She has had us in anticipation for nine months but now she is here. After a very long week of failed inductions, ultrasounds, monitors, IV's, and nights in the hospital bed, Kaydance Harper Knutson arrived Tuesday, August 11 2009 at 5:28pm. She weighed seven pounds even and was 20 inches long. Here are some of our favorite pics so far.

Catch up

2009-07-29T15:03:00.006-06:00

I know I haven't blogged lately, but I didn't realize that it has been over two months since doing so. Not much is new though. Here's what we've been up to:

Trevor has been working at the school district here in Moab, and he loves his job. It has been such a blessing! He had to go to a school bus training at the end of June in Park City, so I went with him and we made that our anniversary celebration. It has been two years now... how quickly time goes. Being pregnant and all, it was a little difficult to find things that we could do together. We really wanted to go on the zip lines or the alpine slide and stuff like that, but being 8 months pregnant, we determined that probably wasn't the best activity for me to be doing. But we did some fun stuff, and I got a lot of baby shopping done while Trevor was at class. Here we are at the Olympic Park.

In the mean time, I have been working at the dentist office here two days a week as a hygiene assistant. It has been good for me to get out of the house, but I don't feel it is a huge burden to have to do so. The dentists are so flexible with me and just tell me to do whatever I feel like I need to do; come and go as I please, take off as much time as I need, and quit whenever I feel I need to. So as of yesterday, I am done working. It was a great job this summer for me and a great way to earn a few extra dollars and for me to keep up on my dental skills.

As for the baby, she is due in one week. This last part is definitely going the slowest. I have loved being pregnant, for the most part, and had things pretty easy, but I am sure ready to be done and have a baby in my arms instead of in my belly. It is getting very hot here and I am getting very big and uncomfortable. We have decided on a name, but haven't quite determined the spelling yet, so we will just announce that when she comes. I realized that I haven't really taken any pictures during my pregnancy, so here is one of me 39 weeks prego.

Other than that, things are pretty much the same. I had a baby shower a few weeks ago and we got tons of pink stuff. Everything is much appreciated but here are a few of my favorites.

Trial or Blessing?

2009-05-16T16:13:00.005-06:00

Our life has been a bit hectic lately as we have had some major changes take place. Let me explain.... As many of you already know, Trevor was laid off from Lake City Trucks in Salt Lake in February. At that time we calculated our finances and worked out a budget that would allow us to last 2, maybe 3 months on our savings. We figured that would be enough time for Trevor to find a job. Not too long after that, maybe a few weeks, Trevor met with the foreman for Lake City Trucks in Springville who said he could start at the end of April when he would be graduated and could work full time. This worked out perfectly with our financial situation and so we decided to just focus on getting school done and not look for any more work because he had a job lined up.

On April 28, the last day of finals, Trevor took his tool boxes down to Springville. He went in to talk to the foreman and make sure that he would be starting work on Monday, May 4, like they had discussed. Unfortunately, he told Trevor that they were really slow with work and that they already had an extra man. This meant that Trevor would be on-call and would maybe get one day of work a week. This caused us some stress seeing as how we had been living on our savings, which were now pretty much gone and we had no jobs lined up.

We had decided that we were going to go home to Moab after finals and spend a few days there to relax before Trevor started work. So, regardless of this setback, we decided to head home anyway. We were there for a few days before his brother and his family got there. Originally, we were going to come back on Saturday, the 2nd, but decided that since neither of us had school or work or any other real obligations, we would spend a few more days at home before we went back to Orem to face reality.

It was the morning of the 4th, the day Trevor was supposed to start work, that we were leaving the house to go up to the family shop and do some work around there with his dad that we got a call from the head of transportation at the school district for Grand County (Moab). She explained that a salesman from Lake City in Salt Lake was down and he had mentioned that there was a guy that worked there who had just gotten laid off and was from Moab. The school district was looking for a new mechanic because the current one was going to retire. So after finding out that this guy was Trevor, she called the house and told him that there was a mechanic job open and if he wanted it, it was his. After some praying and discussing with family and friends, we decided to take the job. The funny thing is that the day before was fast Sunday and so his whole family was fasting for him that he would be able to find a job and then the next morning this happened. We figured it was a sign and we would be fools not to take the job.

Things went pretty fast after that. We came home for about a day and a half, just long enough to get his tools, our clothes and personal items, and the food from our fridge and went back down. Trevor officially started work Monday, the 11th, and it is going great. He really likes it and it has some great benefits- retirement, health insurance, better pay than his previous job, and stable. Plus it's in Moab, which is where we wanted to end up anyway; the timing was just off by a year. So that part of things is great and such a blessing.

Now the hard part: I still have one more year of school. I can not take any time off and then go back and finish or take the classes anywhere else but here at UVU in Orem. Our baby is also due at the beginning of August. Our plan for now is this: we both move home for the summer and live in his Grandma's old trailer house for free while we continue to pay rent on our apartment in Orem. Trevor will come up once a month for his ARMY drills. We have changed doctors and are going to have our baby in Moab. When August rolls around, the baby and I will move back to our apartment in Orem and I will go to school. Still not sure what to do about the baby at this point. Luckily, I will only have classes Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and one class on Mondays. Trevor will stay in Moab and work Monday through Thursday, four tens, and then come up on the weekends to be with us.

So, that's our big news. Sorry we won't be around Orem for the next few months. But we are really excited to be back home for a few months and for Trevor to have a job. We love Moab summers, except I'm a little skeptical about this one being pregnant and all. Oh, and if you have any good advice or know of somewhere we could take our little baby when we move back here let me know. Thanks!

Not bad for a Moabite

2009-04-23T17:43:00.004-06:00

Today was a pretty cool day. First of all, it was my last day of class and we didn't do anything but clean and have breakfast. Every year the automotive department throws a big breakfast on the last day of class. Our breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, and pancakes was cooked on the former land speed world record holder. There are two big griddles in the back of the El Camino painted in school colors with angry UVU wolverines on the sides. The cab is stripped out and housed the massive propane tanks, while under the hood, the engine was removed and replaced with an insulated liner filled with ice to keep our drinks cold. Its pretty cool. And in case you are wondering, the engine went into a different El Camino that is the current land speed world record holder for classic coupe. Go Wolverines!!! Anyway, after our amazing breakfast, we had an awards ceremony and thats when I started to rake 'em in. First I got an award for taking 4th place in the state level of the Skills USA competition. Then I got another award for the outstanding student of the year in the diesel department. Not bad. Later that day Sarah and I were invited to a luncheon where I would be presented my third award of the day: outstanding graduate in the diesel department. The luncheon was amazing. We were fed fajitas with all the fixins' including rice and refried beans and churros for dessert. After lunch I was presented with a beautiful certificate and a nice wood pen engraved with uvu in a wooden engraved box. Who is the man? Okay enough boasting, just check out these humble pics.

And it's a......

2009-04-03T17:11:00.002-06:00

Baby Girl!! After much waiting and anxiousness we went to the dr. today to get the ultrasound. It was pretty obvious that it's a girl. I am so super excited. Trevor, on the other hand, is in shock about the whole thing. He's not quite sure what to think. He talked about having a boy so much and how much he wanted one, that he was convinced that it was going happen, and now this. He "doesn't know what to do with a girl." I guess we'll figure it out together!! We have a few names that we've talked about that we like but nothing is set in stone as of yet. Everything looked good and my due date is still Aug. 8.

Hey everyone, guess what!?!?

2009-03-31T18:16:00.002-06:00

Chicken butt!!! Get it? BUTT...but seriously we don't know what we are having yet. According to the information I received from Sarah, the appointment was for Tuesday night at 6:30. Well around 5:30 that night as we were getting ready, Sarah noticed no one had called to confirm the appointment-unusual. So she decided to call and confirm only to find out the office in Payson, where we were going, closes at 5:00. So she called the Provo office. They also close at 5:00. Finally she was able to get a hold of some idiot in Spanish Fark. No spelling error, Spanish Fark. So this idiot Sarah was talking to was so stupid and naive, that she didnt even know which office could do an ultrasound. Needless to say she couldnt find Sarah's appointment, No one could. So it seems that the ultrasound never got scheduled. I imagine that the receptionist who supposedly scheduled the appointment was some blonde headed, bimbo named Barbie. And I think that my suspicions can be confirmed because she scheduled Sarah's next check-up for April 31. Check your calanders folks, and tell me when you find it. Its times like this when I need that book by Wayne Allred: How to cope with life when you're surrounded by idiots. Anyway, all they could tell sarah to do is wait til morning to call the Provo office and find out what happened. Hopefully we will be able to actually schedule something then. The lady Sarah talked to tonight said they didn't have any openings. But I dont trust her because she doesn't even know which office does an ultrasound. IDIOTS!!! Well sorry to keep you all waiting. We will let you know as soon as we know.

Nooo....YES!!!

2009-03-28T19:52:00.003-06:00

So we recently rented the movie Night at the Roxbury. I was probably quoting a line from it or bobbing my head to the side and Sarah didn't know what I was talking about. So we had to watch it so next time I danced like an idiot or quote the movie she can laugh about it. Anyway the soundtrack is awesome and really took me back. And of course I had to put some of the songs on my playlist on the blog. So check them out and enjoy. It is my tribute to Night at the Roxbury. The songs are at the last on the list so just scroll down to find them.

Our latest "growth" and development

2009-03-04T21:05:00.006-07:00

I have been a little hesitant to write about this. However, after some persuasion from Trevor and hopefully your support, we will fill you in. We have lived in Starcrest Apartments for about a year and a half now and things have been going considerably well, despite the problems that we have heard about from others and some that we have experienced ourselves. Let me first say that we are clean people, who take care of our things, who have pride in our living conditions, and who want to remain free from disease and affliction. Having said that, I will now inform you about our latest adventure here in Starcrest, or as referred to by some, Crapcrest.
The other day Trevor and I were cleaning up our back room after a visit from my mom. When Trevor had set up the air mattress for her to sleep on, he noticed that the floor was wet. (We never really go in our spare bedroom, but use it mostly for storage and such.) After my mom had stayed and we were tidying up, we noticed some mold along the base board. After following it's trail to the edge of the wall, behind a shelf we had bought a while back, which had every possible inch of space occupied, we noticed a big black spot on the wall. After pulling out some of the boxes, and eventually the entire shelf away from the wall, we discovered nasty, black and orange, smelly, fuzzy, mold growing half way up the wall. I say growing and not grown because I think it was still spreading right in front of our eyes. The thing is alive and probably has molds which are yet to be discovered by man! Steve, maybe you can come study it for us...you could be famous.
We were pretty appalled. But the discovery made us curious and we investigated further. We decided to check in the closet where earlier that summer we had some problems with wet carpet. We moved our luggage and felt the floor...dry. There was no trace of mold along the base board. On a hunch I grabbed all of my old army uniforms hanging in the closet and threw them to the other side. That's when we found the spawn of the demon growing in the corner. And it had a twin in the closet in our bedroom! We had never noticed it because of the insane amount of clothes we have in our closets. The mold even spread onto some of the clothes which had to be burned. Okay, we didn't burn the clothes but we did throw them away.

At this point, we call the EMERGENCY line only to get an answering machine... some emergency line. That was almost a week ago, and we still haven't had anyone come look at it or anything. This mold is seriously out of control, and I know that it's not going to get fixed. Needless to say, we are not bringing a newborn into this place.
We immediately started looking for a new place, and we have decided on this.....

Almost twice as big as our current apartment, another bathroom, a brand new kitchen, and a fireplace in the living room. We are so excited, but unfortunately, we will not be in the 7th ward anymore. To you seventh warders, know that we love you dearly and did not want to move out of the ward. In fact your friendship means so much to us that we would gladly make the trek from 800 North to attend a BBQ or play big booty on the lawn until dark thirty. So please don't forget about us just because we are going to be across town. Unless we are "out of the club" or you think less of us for moving on without you, then we might understand. It is not you it is the vomitous mass in our spare bedroom. We didn't want our baby eaten alive. Wish us luck in our endeavors, and you might get an invite to a house warming party or somethin'.

Update

2009-02-26T17:12:00.002-07:00

School is half over!! That's one of the best things that could happen. It's such a great feeling to be half done with the semester. Hopefully the second half will go as fast as the first half. Trevor did so well on his midterms ( I think the highest in his class.... like always) I"m so proud of my smart husband! :) The other big news, if any of you didn't already know (which I think you all do) is that we are expecting our first baby. I am just a little over 4 months now and everything is going great. We couldn't be happier or more excited about this new addition to our family. We will find out at my next appointment what it will be. Trevor wants a boy, and my preference is swaying that way as well, but I really don't care. I just want healthy. Plus Trevor says that he is "too manly to have a girl." So in the mean time we want to know what you all think we will have...

We're getting hosed!

2009-01-24T23:14:00.003-07:00

So I was thinking the other day as I was changing clothes up at work and decided that I would put my thoughts on the blog. So as most of you know, I am studying diesel mechanics at school and working as a technician at an international dealership. And most of you say: "that is a good field to go into." or "You should always have a job anywhere you want." But I have also had people say to me (especially after they learn that Sarah is going to be a dental hygienist) "Ohhhh, well, good for you I guess." Now what would their reaction have been if I said I was going to be a doctor? Probably something like "WOW! That's impressive!" Now I'm not saying that I want to be a doctor. In fact, I quite like being a mechanic and you can actually make a decent living as one. But let's face it, the title of mechanic just doesn't compare to doctor. Doctors get all the money, all the prestige, the fancy creams and lotions, all the money... What kind of recognition does a diesel mechanic get? None! I think if people realized the contribution we mechanics make to society, they would revere us much like doctors. Doctors may keep people living a little longer, but we keep America alive forever! Trucks are the life blood of this great nation and we are their doctors. In fact we are more than doctors. Can a doctor bring one of his patients back from the dead? I can. And what could a doctor do if we stopped caring for our "patients"? How would they get their supplies? How could the blood be delivered? How would the injured even get to the hospital? I have worked on many an ambulance in my short time as a mechanic. Without mechanics doctors would be nothing. So why do they get all the glory and the big pay checks. I say we should be getting paid just as much if not more than doctors. But what do I know? I'm just a lowly mechanic. We are getting hosed!!!

Anyone????

2009-01-16T18:31:00.003-07:00

For school we are now in the clinic at school working on patients. There aren't very many people that call in out of the blue, so we are ultimately responsible to find our own patients. If any of you need a cleaning or know of ANYONE that needs a cleaning, please let me know. You can call me at 435-260-1837 or you can call the clinic and talk to Linda at 801-863-7608 and say you want an appointment with me. I need patients of all ages and all kinds of mouths. It takes 3 hours for the appointment and it is $25 for adults, $10 for kids, and $13 for students. Here are the times I'm there:

Monday: 3:00 - 6:00 pm
Tuesday: 8:30 - 11:30
Thursday: 8:30 - 11:30

Please, please, please come in and tell everyone you know. Thanks everyone!

Armed and Dangerous?

2009-01-15T17:53:00.005-07:00

Hey everyone! Thought is was time for me to post something on "our" blog. The picture might be fuzzy, thats because it was taken on my phone. But if you cant tell that is me at the helm of a MK 19 last weekend. It is a fully automatic grenade launcher capable of 350 rounds per minute with an effective range of 2200 meters. Each grenade fired has a kill radius of five meters and will pierce armor up to two inches thick. Pretty cool huh!?! As you can see we are inside so I didn't get to fire it. In fact, we don't even have ammo for it and probably never will. Bummer! I guess that is the way it goes when you are in a fuel unit as opposed to the infantry. But I could still feel the power just sitting behind it. We also set up the 50 cal. It was kind of fun, but mostly just another boring drill weekend.

Does it ever end?

2008-12-18T09:40:00.002-07:00

The fall semester is finally over for us and we couldn't be more excited about it. School takes up so much freakin' time. Lucky for Trevor, he only has one semester to go until he graduates. I on the other hand have 3 more. Sometimes I wonder why I even went back to school. I mean, I already have a degree, why in the world do I need 2? I don't want to work anyway, let alone two jobs...

But even after all the complaining and whining I do, I do enjoy school a little. I like learning. I guess the thing I hate most is the whole homework and studying to be tested on it. I want to take a class where I can just go, listen, take notes IF I WANT, leave class and be done with until the next time. No reading assignments, I can go at my own pace, no thinking of extra questions I have about the material, no tests. However, I also like the people I go to school with. I get to hang out with 13 other girls for an average of about 5 hours a day. But even though it's fun and they're fun, I would much rather spend those 5 hours with Trevor, whom I only get to see about 2 hours a day.

So now for the Christmas Break, I don't quite know what to do with myself. Trevor still has to go to work all day, but I have no homework or studying to keep me busy. We are going to a Neil Diamond concert tomorrow night, which Trevor is so stinking excited about. It'll be a good time!!

BLAH

2008-12-16T07:18:00.002-07:00

I hate snow. I hate winter.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-28T21:53:00.003-06:00

Tonight Trevor and I went to a Halloween party for our ward. It was pretty fun. We didn't know what we were going to even dress up as until last night.... we decided to be gothic people. It was actually funner than I thought. It takes a lot of work to look like that, but we had fun getting each other ready and putting on each other's make up and piercings.

We even won scariest costumes at the party. Trevor was even kind of freaking me out a little; he scared all the little kids there. I felt kinda bad about that, but it was still pretty fun. I've never won any awards for halloween costumes before, so it was a first for me.

24 Hours

2008-10-18T13:54:00.009-06:00

Every year in October is the 24 hours of Moab bike relay race. Trevor's family has supplied the water for it for the past 14 years. This year we got to go down and drive the water trucks. Our main jobs were dust control and providing water for drinking and showering. Trevor's dad and Uncle also drove. It was a fun time, for the most part, but the wind was horrid, and we lost the battle of trying to keep the dust down. (The race is in the middle of the desert with huge sand dunes right next to the track.) This was the truck that Trevor and I got to drive (by that I mean that Trevor drove while I rode and changed his cd's for him)

It is pretty cool to see all the people that come out for the race. There is nothing out there and then about a week before the race starts, people start showing up and it looks like a whole city the day of the race.

We had three big water trucks and one little one for wet down around the venues... Granny's water wagon... which was actually driven by Trevor's grandma, and then we had the younger kids on the back spraying water from the fire house onto the ground. It is such an awesome truck, and a pretty fun job (that was my job last year.)

The beginning the race was awesome, minus the wind, which was blowing so much dust around you couldn't even see 10 feet in front of you. I should've gotten some pictures of people trying to walk around while we were riding in the truck. But at the beginning of the race, each racer has to run down to this tree and then back to their bikes to get on the trail. It was amazing to see them all!!! You can see a lot of them wearing respirator masks because it was so dusty. Check out the video!

*Note that each person represents a team. Teams can have different numbers of people anywhere from single riders to an eight man team. This gives you a little idea of how many people were out there.

In the mean time, Trevor and I went back into town to fill up the water truck and while we were waiting for it to fill, we found his little brother's little motorcycle road bike, so we rode it around a little. Trevor now wants one for himself. We even both rode around on it... too bad I didn't get any pictures of that.... it was pretty dang funny!

Happy Birthday

2008-10-16T12:58:00.003-06:00

So I'm a little behind with posting, but I'm trying. School is keeping me and Trevor so busy! We did find a little time on Trevor's birthday (Oct. 1) to spend some time together and have a little party for him. I made him one of his favorite things, shrimp alfredo, which I'm not a fan of, but did it because I love him so much. I also got him a few things that he wanted.... some new Sunday shirts, a huge cd case (he has almost 250 cd's) and another cd that he wanted to add to his collection, Kenny Loggins. Happy 23rd Birthday Sweetie!!

Bike Ride

2008-10-04T18:09:00.006-06:00

This summer we bought some mountain bikes because we wanted to be a little more active and get out and enjoy nature. Well, summer flew by and things happened, and we were only able to get out for a ride once. So, the other weekend, we decided that it was probably one of the last chances that we were going to have to go ride on some trails so we went to Lambert Park. It was so beautiful up there. It was just as the leaves were changing colors and the temperature was perfect for a nice ride, we couldn't have asked for a better day. Plus, there weren't very many other people there, which was nice as well.

I think it's kind of funny that we are both from Moab, where mountain biking is one of the only things to do there, and I have never been and
I think Trevor has only been a few times. It was a good ride though, not all up hill, had some technical spots, and just a fun ride. I'm so glad we went!!

100 Things

2008-09-25T14:30:00.002-06:00

My sister did this on her blog and decided that I would try it out and see if I could even come up with 100 things about me. Here we go....
1. I am a student at UVU
2. I'm a dental hygiene student- with 13 other awesome girls!
3. I love my husband, Trevor, more than anyone else is this world
4. I can't stand when the shower curtain is open
5. I used to have a bad habit of biting my nails... I'm doing a little better now
6. Getting dressed up is not my thing. I would wear a T-shirt and jeans everyday if I could.
7. I want to make a cd of inspirational music, with no lyrics, like movie soundtracks that just move me.
8. My shoe size is 8
9. I probably own about 30 pairs of shoes, but only wear about 7
10. I think I let people take advantage of me. I don't like it
11. I wish I were more outgoing
12. I was a cheerleader in high school for a year
13. There are 5 other siblings in my family. I am number 3
14. Everyone in my family thinks I'm very photogenic... I'm not so sure
15. I'm a very picky eater
16. I think all desserts are delicious, except for those with walnuts
17. My husband used to have a crush on my big sister before we started dating
18. I dated Trevor for 4 years before we got married (two were during high school)
19. I want to be more coordinated
20. Trevor calls me spastic sometimes because I'm...well... spastic
21. I was married on mid-years day. (June 30)
22. I'm always tired and need my Sunday nap
23. I want to learn how to sew
24. I would like to try new recipes. We eat the same stuff all the time
25. The sports I did in high school were soccer, cross country, and track
26. I was in the high school choir
27. I like to dance around the house when I'm home alone
28. I have a deathly fear of crickets
29. I think vacuuming is the worse chore
30. I hate driving, generally, and always make Trevor drive on long trips
31. I have a hard time staying awake when I ride in cars. It makes me feel like a little kid.
32. I am an aunt to 3 nephews, 2 nieces, and an unknown on the way
33. I want to have a baby
34. I bruise way too easily
35. I won't call people back if I've missed their call. I figure if it's important, they'll leave me a message
36. One day I hope to move back to Moab
37. I would rather be hot than cold
38. Moths scare me
39. Every weekend during high school we would have a bonfire at the sand dunes
40. I wrote Trevor every week of his mission
41. Fruits are delicious, but I hate getting them ready to eat (i.e. peeling them)
42. I want a piano
43. Spelling was one of my best subjects in grade school
44. I'm a procrastinator
45. I don't really like the fact that my husband is in the ARMY
46. One of my biggest fears is being alone
47. I'm really shy
48. I love watching movies
49. I get ornery if I get too hungry
50. I don't like pets at all... not any kind
51. I'm glad Trevor and I agree on #50
52. Country dancing was probably one of my favorite classes I took in college
53. I went to Utah State University for 2 years before coming to UVU
54. I ride my bike to school every day
55. I'm not looking forward to winter
56. Christmas is my favorite holiday
57. If I didn't have to shower, but could feel like I just did, I wouldn't
58. I hate getting ready for the day
59. I won't sing solo, not even to Trevor. I'm not sure why I'm afraid to
60. I'm horrible at video games
61. I think they are a waste of time
62. I love my family to death
63. Grilled cheese sandwiches are only good with BBQ chips, dill pickles, and a glass of chocolate milk
64. I eat cottage cheese with almost every meal
65. Biscuits and gravy with eggs on top is my favorite breakfast
66. In the 5th grade I could type 100 wpm and 100 accuracy on home row keys
67. I don't like walking down halls when there are people watching me walk
68. I'm a people watcher... please don't get freaked out if you see me watching you
69. I don't like my feet
70. I hate buying birthday presents. I would rather just give them money, but I feel like it's so impersonal
71. I've donated my hair 3 times to Locks of Love
72. My hands are always dry
73. I'm almost ALWAYS on time
74. I could never be a door-to-door salesman
75. Water is my favorite beverage
76. I've never been out of the United States
77. I think seafood is gross
78. I get sick a lot
79. I had pneumonia when I went to New York for a week and a half and luckily didn't die. I didn't even know I had it.
80. I have been to Yankee Stadium and almost caught a foul ball
81. I love going to church
82. I kind of wish I still played the violin
83. I've never had braces, but consider my teeth to be pretty straight. Lucky me!
84. I have glasses, but rarely wear them
85. It breaks my heart to see parents yell at their children (not discipline, but yell at them)
86. I want to travel to a foreign country and help do humanitarian work
87. I wish I took more pictures.
88. I've never been a car accident
89. I'm a worrier. I get it from my mom
90. There are a lot of people I look up to that I wish I was more like
91. I've never gotten a speeding ticket.... or any other ticket for that matter
92. I'm not a talker, my husband is
93. I watched "Cars" the other day and now every time I think of the line "Holy Shoot" I can't control my laughter
94. I'm horrible at telling jokes. I always mess 'em up
95. I have written 3 poems that I am proud of and given to people
96. I love roller coasters
97. I have never been to Vegas (only driven through), but plan to go there soon... probably in May
98. I like having a trash can in every room of the house. And a clock too, for that matter
99. I will have two degrees when I am finished with school
100. I want to go on a mission with Trevor when we get old.

Family Band

2008-09-09T16:02:00.001-06:00

It was Trevor's dad's 50th birthday at the beginning of August this year. Since he loves music, we decided that we would make a family band and play him a song as his present. Trevor's brother, McLain, has all sorts of instruments (he is like the most musically talented person you will ever meet), and so he taught us each a part on a different instrument. Myself and McLain's wife, Sheri, were on the guitars, Jordan, another of Trevor's brothers was on the bass, and his wife, Jaicee, on the banjo, and then McLain himself was on the mandalin. Trevor sang and played the bongo drums. We decided to play "A horse with no name" I think that's what it's called. Anyway, Trevor set up the camera and tried to record a little bit of it. It's not a great recording and he just set it up so it's on me the whole time, but you can see Jordan in the background. It definately wasn't the best performance in the world, but we all had a great time learning and performing it and his Dad absolutely loved it.

Summer Reunions

2008-08-25T15:19:00.004-06:00

This summer Trevor and I had 3 family reunions to go to, which kept us on our toes and away from home a lot of the time. I already posted some pictures of the Stewart reunion (which is Trevor's mom's side). We also had a Tangren reunion (Which is my dad's side), and then the Knutson reunion. Here are just a few pics from the last two.

Back to the Grind

2008-08-25T14:59:00.003-06:00

School starts this week for both Trevor and I, and neither of us are super excited about it. I was actually kind of dreading it (even though I could've been done I decided to come back for another degree), but then today I had my orientation meeting for dental hygiene and got all my tools and my "first patient."
So now I'm a little more excited about it all. I'll be going to school for 2 more years now, and Trevor only has one more year left in his diesel mechanic program, but wishes he was done already. He is not the biggest fan of school and homework!! Needless to say, we will be super busy now trying to fit everything in, so I will do my best at keeping the blog updated.

Grandma's Party

2008-08-03T20:54:00.005-06:00

This past weekend was my Grandma's 71st Birthday Party so we went to Draper to celebrate with the fam. We found this cool toy in my Uncle's garage and started playing around with it. Pretty fun, and some good exercise too (especially on the driveway slope.) This is me trying to do some cool stuff, but I'm not even strong enough to get going.

We also started playing on the trampoline and showing off our tricks.... of which I have none. Here is Trevor's best attempt at toe touches.

For those who don't know, my Grandma is Mexican and so she had to sing some Spanish songs for all of us. It was kinda cool, but at the same time, I couldn't even really tell she was singing different songs. They all just sound the same to me and Trevor. But we had some awesome Mexican food... the traditional beans and rice with Tri-tip and some delicious chicken.

Sweet Cruiser

2008-07-25T16:08:00.003-06:00

I won this sweet cruiser bike at Macey's grocery store when I was working in December. But a few weeks ago we decided to get me a mountain bike so I could go on some trails with Trevor. I'm so glad we bought it and I am loving it, but now I am trying to sell my cruiser. If anyone is looking for an awesome road bike or know anyone who is, please let me know. It is an '07 Raleigh Retro Glide and freakin' sweet. It has a big comfy seat, one gear, and coaster brakes. I haven't even really ridden it at all. I rode it to school at UVU for the spring semester (there and back for 4 months) and that is it. It is in mint condish. We are asking $300 for it or best offer.

Funny Hunny

2008-07-19T20:50:00.002-06:00

On Friday we both took the day off so we could just spend some time with each other by ourselves. It seems like every time we have had to take a day off it's because we have to go somewhere out of town or have things to do all day. So on Friday we just slept in and rented some movies and just played around all day. It was so great. We also had to get things ready for him to go to drill- which started Friday night. We were getting his sleeping bag ready and we got distracted during the process and Trevor ended up rolling around in it and acting like a caterpillar or something. It was pretty entertaining for me, anyway.

My Masterpiece

2008-07-19T20:31:00.003-06:00

While Trevor is gone at drill this weekend (again), I decided that I would be crafty and make something cute. I saw this at one of our friend's house and I thought it was so pretty and then last night my sister was making one, so I stole the instructions and copied them and just decided to go for it today. This is the finished product. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be and only took be about 2 hours from start to finish to do everything. I do have instructions if any of you would like to make one. Total cost for me = $25 with the frame and all. And surprisingly, I actually enjoyed making it and didn't get frustrated at all... that is really an achievement for me considering how crafty I am!!

The Bestest Husband

2008-07-14T16:44:00.005-06:00

I was thinking the other day how blessed I am to have Trevor in my life. He is such a wonderful husband and my best friend. I couldn't ask for anything more. We have had such a great relationship ever since we have known each other, which has been about 12 years now, and it has only gotten better since we have been married. He is so romantic, and i absolutely LOVE it. This is a picture he took on his mission by the Black Sea. He is so sweet! He always does cute little things like that to remind me how much he loves me.

So, this was pretty short, but I just want to say that I LOVE TREVOR! I always have and always will.

Insurance anyone?

2008-07-09T18:33:00.002-06:00

So for dental hygiene school I am required to have health insurance before I can start (in August) I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas of where to get some that would be fairly cheap or has good coverage, and preferably maternal coverage (in the event that I get pregnant while attending school). I would really appreciate any info that anyone has. Thanks!!!

Camping Fun

2008-07-07T19:56:00.004-06:00

So for the 4th of July we went down to Moab for Trevor's mom's family reunion. We went camping in the LaSal Mountains, which are beautiful. Unfortunately, the weekend went by way too fast. We took our bikes down and went on a little bike ride, ate a lot, and just spent a lot of time visiting. It was great. There was something on the mountain though that was sure stirring up mine and Trevor's allergies.....and I mean REALLY BAD. But we endured. We also went shooting before we came home and practiced shooting some clay pigeons. Trevor got pretty good at it, but I was like 2 for 20 or some where around there. I know I suck, but I still had a good time. Unfortunately we didn't get to watch any fireworks this year, but we had a big fire on the mountain and Trevor set off some firecrackers. So, I guess it was still a good 4th. Here are some pics of our trip.

Trevor's parents
Me and my niece, Naivie

One year

2008-07-01T13:36:00.003-06:00

Trevor and I just celebrated our one year anniversary on June 30. It was so great. It's hard to believe how fast the time flies, but I have loved every minute of it. So to celebrate, we went to Lagoon for the day and then stayed at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. It was pretty suite :) We stayed in the Italian Gondola room with a huge tv and a jetted tub and they even had sparkling apple cider and cheese cake waiting for us when we got there. It was awesome! Trevor also took me to The Pie Pizzeria. It was delicious. Daresay, the best pizza I have ever tasted. I definitely recommend it to anyone heading that way.
Lagoon was a blast too. We spent about 8 hours there and got our money's worth. Unfortunately, we are horrible at taking pictures so we have none. I am pretty disappointed, Trevor doesn't seem to know why or what the big deal is. We also managed to ruin the keyless entry thing on our car keys by going on all the wet rides. We had no other place to put our keys and didn't really think about just taking the actual key with us. So sorry I don't have any pictures to post, but you can just take my word for it that we had a great anniversary.

What the HECK!?!?!?

2008-06-21T15:59:00.002-06:00

I am so frustrated right now!!!! I can not even describe it. So, about a month ago we took our car down to Sears Auto Center to get new shocks and struts and an alignment. It hasn't even been a full month and the alignment is already SO off. I took it back today and they said that there were some bent parts underneath and all this stuff and that the only way that POSSIBLY could have happened was for me to get in a wreck or run over something really big. Well, NEITHER of those have happened, in fact, we haven't even hardly driven the car. I put about 10 miles on the car each day. I'm not sure how this could have happened. After getting over dealing with the Sears guys, I took the car to Big O and they told me the same thing. What the HECK!!! Trevor and I are both so pissed off right now. And they said we need new tires.... of course. Now they have me worried that I'm going to get a blowout before Trevor gets home in 4 days. Trevor is worried about that too and he told me to make sure I know how to get the spare out and know where the jack is and stuff just in case.

We are going to go down to sears again when he gets back and chew them out (we think they did something to our car, because we haven't done anything to it, and no one else has driven it) and make them do something for free, or at least cheap. Wow.... I'm glad I got that all out. I actually feel a LITTLE better now than I did a few minutes ago. In fact, I have been so irate the whole day about the whole thing that I have cried a few times just to let out some of the frustration. Ok I'm done now.

2008-06-18T17:51:00.002-06:00

I found out today that the father of one of my good friends just passed away. I just want to tell Geneava that I'm so sorry for your loss. I don't have any idea of what you are feeling right now, but I am so sorry. You and your family are in our prayers. We love you!

One more

2008-06-18T17:44:00.002-06:00

I still have one more week by myself until Trevor comes back. I'm excited beyond words to see him again. It feels like it has been forever. Luckily my new job it keeping me busy and taking up some time. For those who don't know, I now work for NuSkin in Provo putting labels on products and such. It is money.... not really my dream job. I did however have an interview today for another job at UVSC, (soon to be UVU) which will be so much better than this. I'm a little doubtful though. They didn't seem too impressed that I was going to be starting classes again in August....... how dumb is that? I thought school was supposed to be good and don't you think that because they have students working there, they would be a little more flexible with school schedules and all? It's all a little confusing to me...If I don't get it, I guess I can TOLERATE getting up at 5:30 am for the next 2 months.

Missing Trevor

2008-06-14T15:26:00.003-06:00

So it has been one week since Trevor left for California. We are both ready for this training to be over. This is a picture of him there because he was bored and had nothing to do besides take pictures and send them to me. ( I will post some more pictures later.) They never have enough to keep them busy. I wish they would just let them come home.

MOH

2008-06-12T15:21:00.003-06:00

Maid of Honor....

I went and saw this movie last night with my mom and sister. It was so cute. I really liked it. I just love chick flicks. But it made me really miss Trevor. I thought I was doing really good until today when I go to talk to him for about 3 minutes and then he had to go. It was like putting freshly baked brownies in front of me and only letting me get a whiff of them and then eating them all in front of me. It was pretty much just hi, i love you, bye. Now the ARMY gets to have him for 2 more weeks. I'm so lonely.

Soldier Boy

2008-06-07T12:52:00.006-06:00

My soldier left me today for three weeks. This is the longest that we have had to be apart since we were married. Needless to say, I'm having a little bit of a hard time with it. But I will make it through. For those who don't know, he is in the Army Reserves and his MOS is Petroleum Supply Specialist. He has been in for about 4 years now and has 4 years to go. I'm ready for it all to be over. He was showing me all his stuff last night, unfortunately I didn't get one of the gas mask. It was pretty cool.... never seen one in real life... just in the movies. But it does sound like Darth Vader a little.

In preparation for going he also shaved his head. He hates having long hair, especially during the summer. He says he is too lazy to comb it. So here are some before and after pictures. He thought he kinda looked like a cancer patient or something. I like it.... Baby soft smooth :)

Gardening

2008-06-04T10:38:00.006-06:00

I'm pretty disappointed with the rain today. I was trying to plant a garden... I don't know how exactly i endeavored to do that...... but i don't want to go out side now. However, it probably would be the optimal time to plant my flowers and then let the rain do it's magic. For some strange reason I am getting way to excited about the whole thing. I've never really gardened before, and I HATE doing yard work. I'm afraid i'm not going to keep it up and all my flowers will just die. Maybe if my enthusiasm keeps up I will end up with a beautiful flower garden. Hopefully it will at least be an improvement from this. There were so many rocks in there....

Dirty Work

2008-06-03T16:41:00.003-06:00

So, Trevor is a diesel mechanic. He loves what he does. He found this engine at his Dad's shop and we fired it up. Check it out....

2008-05-31T11:30:00.000-06:00

so i guess i did it... i should be officially considered cool now. the real test will be if i can keep it up. i need to be more computer savvy.