Josh Groban!

I have been so blessed lately to be able to go to some concerts.  On October 11th, I went to Salt Lake City with a couple friends to see... JOSH GROBAN!!   Have I mentioned that I love Josh Groban?  I really love Josh Groban.  My friends (and sisters) Emily and Karen, picked me up here in Pocatello and we headed south.  The concert was amazing!

Hopefully this video works and you can get a little taste of the amazingness.  We really had pretty good seats.  As you can see (hopefully) when he sat at the piano, he faced us.  So fun!  And I just loved him.

Here are a few photos from the weekend.

The only regret in the whole weekend was that Kyle didn't come with me.  In our almost 3 years of marriage, that was our first night apart.  And yes, I did choose Josh Groban over my husband.

New Glasses!

I have always been a sucker for a guy in plastic rimmed glasses.  So, when Kyle was trying on glasses, those were obviously my favorites. The black rimmed were a little too dark for his coloring, and we ended up both liking these.  My glasses, on the other hand, came from ZenniOpticals.com.  I wanted something bold, so bravely ordered these.  All I gotta say is, Our kids are going to be adorable!

AUTUMN!

I love the Fall so much!  The cooler weather makes me happy.  Sweatshirts, hot herbal tea, warm blankets and slippers.  Love love love the Fall.

Kyle and I are getting into our new routines in a new place.  We frequent the Goodwill and love the bulk food section at Winco.

A few weeks ago I found these at Goodwill.

Have I mentioned how much I love owls?  Best Goodwill find in a while!

With the Holidays coming up, it was time to get out my limited Halloween/Fall decorations.  Among them is a table runner that we received as a wedding gift from Melissa's (sister-in-law) mom.  I look forward to using this table runner every year, so this year I decided to make a Fall one for Thanksgiving.  I had been emailing Laurie for help, then decided to just measure the one she gave us and try to replicate it.  Voila!  the Thanksgiving table runner below!

I love that they are both reversible!

Life after a miscarriage

  Well, this isn't something that people usually talk about.  But I feel like a lot of women go through it and we almost need a support group.  

Here's my story.

The week of my birthday in January, Kyle and I found out that we were pregnant.  My excitement at the time is indescribable. I laughed, I cried, I freaked out.  We had been trying to get pregnant since August. In December, I found out that I was insulin resistant and the doctor told us that can play a major role in women being unable to conceive.  The next cycle after being on medication, I was pregnant!  

Those first few weeks had me on an emotional roller coaster.  I was terrified that this was too good to be true.  I had wanted to be a mom for as long as I could remember.  I played a mom (or a witch) for almost every Halloween (pretty hilarious that I would choose those two).  This was a dream come true.

On February 7th, I started spotting. I had set up an appointment just the day before for the following Monday as I would be 8 weeks.  I called my doctor and he said it was probably nothing to worry about and that with my appointment on Monday they'd do an ultrasound.  I woke up on Friday morning at 4:30 am to bleeding.  I knew instantly that I had lost the baby.  I cried like I have never cried before.  So much heartache. I have never experienced anything like this.  I woke up Kyle, who did his best to comfort me. 

I called my parents, it was by then around 6:00 am their time.  I'm sure getting a call that early in the morning has to be an alarm that something bad has happened.  They mourned with me, and expressed so much love.  The worst phone call I made that day was to my older sister.  She had just had a baby in December.  I started by telling her that we had found out we were pregnant in January, she squealed with delight, but then I ended the sentence with, 'but I just miscarried.'  Her response was immediate and heart retching.


I called the doctor and they told me to just keep my appointment for Monday.  They told me that I'd have contraction like cramps and that if I needed I could come in if they got too painful for medication.  They were not kidding about the pain.  Wow.  I'm hoping now that it has prepared me a bit for actual labor.

In my excitement, I had told several friends and later cursed myself for not being able to keep my mouth shut.  They all responded with sympathy and sorrow.  But none of them had actually gone through what I had experienced.  With some, I felt angry and didn't want to hear their responses.  I kept thinking, "you have no idea what I'm going through. Don't you dare pity me."  With every friend and sister that announced their pregnancy, my heart ached. I am so happy for each one, but filled with so much sorrow that my own sweet baby wasn't on it's way.  And the crazy thing is that in the 3 weeks that I had been aware of being pregnant, I knew it was going to be a little boy, and I had a name that I was sure was his.  But part of me feels like a crazy person.  I only knew I was pregnant for 3 weeks!  That's it.

My heart is slowly healing.  I realize now that my experience was for my good.  I now have so much empathy for all women.  I have experienced the yearning to get pregnant, the roller coaster of waiting, the joy of finding out you are expecting, the exhaustion of being pregnant and then finally the loss of a baby.  How thankful I am for such an experience.

I expected this past Mother's Day to be tough.  But it really wasn't.  It was a day to celebrate being a mom, and to look forward to the day when I'll be a mom myself.  I said something to Kyle about how I wasn't expecting anything from him. He asked why not.  I said that last year he had told me I wasn't a mom, when I whined to him about not making the day special, so this year it was the same.  He looked at me and said, "Shan, you are a mom.  You had a baby."  whew.  the tears come so easily.

My words for everyone that will someday read this.  (I don't know if I'll actually post this, it's 05-27 today, so we'll see how long it takes me to get up the nerve). Be thankful for everyday.  Be patient. I know, so much easier said than done.  But there is beauty all around.  My baby will come to our family when Heavenly Father says it's time.  Since then we have become increasingly more excited about having a baby.  Kyle's excitement has skyrocketed, which makes me so happy.  When we are blessed with a little one, we will be overjoyed.  And we'll let you all know after the first trimester.  :)

Back to School...

  Well, here we are again.  We've had a crazy busy summer.  I finished my year as a high school teacher at the end of May.  For the month of June, I had the opportunity to work at summer school in a p5 classroom.  These are students that are 4 or 5 years old that haven't yet gone to kindergarten, and will be going to kindergarten in the Fall.  I did this last summer and LOVED it. I was fortunate enough to work with the same teacher and had fun making friends and carpooling with two other teachers.  I love working with that age group and it actually led me to apply for some kindergarten positions in Pocatello.

Why Pocatello?  We found out mid July that Kyle had been accepted into his grad program at Idaho State University.  Yay!  They only accepted 5 people this year, so it was quite the achievement and blessing that he got in.  The day that he was scheduled for an interview, I busted my butt to get an interview for a special education job.  I was offered the position, and just today had my first day in the classroom with my seventh and eighth grade special ed students.  I'll be teaching math.

To back up a few steps... Kyle graduated from BYU-I on July 23rd!!!!!!  I was/am so excited for him.  Kyle's parents were able to come out and it was so fun to have them there, as well as, Kyle's brother and his family. And Katelyn, of course!

Katelyn, Kent, Kate and Stone waiting to see Kyle walk in his cap and gown!

Afton, Dad and Mom Griffith waiting to see Kyle.

Kyle and his proud parents!

Yay!  My husband is a college graduate!

Kyle spent most of his time in this building.

The day after graduation we packed up in Kyle's parent's truck and headed to Iowa!  We were at his parent's house for a few days before heading to Branson, MO for Terry and Teresa's 40th wedding anniversary.  All Kyle's siblings and families were meeting there and sharing two condos.  We had so much fun going to different shows and going to Silver Dollar City.  It was hot and humid, which I had forgotten just how humid the midwest can be, but I had so much fun hanging out with all the siblings and nieces and nephews.

At Moonshine beach in Branson.

They did some go-cart riding!

Katelyn, Harrison, Truman and Dan

Frozen Custard!  Dan, Truman, Harrison, Jen, Lincoln and Katelyn

Happy 40th!  

On the way home from Branson, we were dropped off at my parent's house.  We stayed with my family for almost a week.  I loved just chilling at home.  It was a nice relaxing vacation.  We took the train back to Utah, and had a great trip.

Nice Iowa thunderstorm!  Which we have apparently brought to Pocatello with us!

We went to Nauvoo with my parents. They worked in the temple all day and we got to go to a session and then wander around a bit.

When we got back home, we had less than a week before we moved to Pocatello.  We had lots of help and are still astonished by how much more room we have.  Kyle is busy in his classes and working for the program.  The wives of those in it call themselves 'the widows of NIATEC'  So far it hasn't been bad, but we'll see how things shape up.  I think this year will keep us both pretty busy.

Kyle's new school wardrobe!  Polos! His program requires they wear 'collared' shirts.  Goodwill is always a good place to shop for back to school clothes.

I almost forgot to mention that Beth and Elle came up to see me!  And James, of course.  It was so much fun to have them, so I've included pictures from their visit.

We went to a grad night for Kyle.  I made all our skirts and Jame's shorts.  Notice how they match his momma's? 

We went up to Mesa Falls.  There are two Falls, Upper and Lower.  Happy baby James!

At the Upper Falls.

At the Lower Falls!

"We should throw that away, you never use it."

That is what Kyle said, jokingly, to me last week.  He was talking about my sewing machine.  Kyle bought me this sewing machine for Christmas in 2010, just 5 days before we got married.  I was sooo excited.  It was one of those gifts that I had wanted for a long time and was trying to figure out how to save money to buy.  The great thing was that I had no idea he was getting it for me.  Never in a million years would I have guessed that he would get me such a big gift.  Especially considering the day before at the Lasley Christmas, he had given me an engagement ring.  Needless to say, I was floored.  He had done a lot of research and had chosen a really good machine.  If you can tell, on the right side, it has all different kinds of stitches that it can do, there are 60 total, including some for quilting.  Wowzah.  This is the gift that just keeps on giving.

Also, the sewing box came from Kyle the following January for my 25th birthday.  This guy's a keeper!

I have used it off and on for the past 2.5 years, but have really gone crazy the last few months.  I've blogged a few of the dresses I have made and here's another skirt I made recently.  I've even started helping friends pick out material and make their own skirts. A maxi skirt paired with a t-shirt is a great summer outfit. At least in my opinion.  ;)

On a side note: the t-shirt in the picture is from San Francisco. Kyle sent it to me on the mission.

Visit from Mission Companion!

While we were in Utah last weekend, I had the opportunity to meet up with one of my favorite companions! Sister Soper!  I guess I should call her Whitney.  ;)  It was so much fun to meet her husband and little baby. And she got to meet Kyle, which she mentioned she had first heard about almost 5 years ago.  Boy, does time fly by. Love this girl!

Wedding Gift...

Kyle and I have been married for almost 2 and a half years.  One of the wedding gifts we received, we started using immediately and I have loved it.  It's a spice rack.  Every place we've lived seems to have a spot that it fits in perfectly.  I love this spice rack, but I've had one problem.  There are several spices that I just don't use.  So even though it looked nice and I used probably half the spices regularly, I still had to dig through my spice cupboard to find other spices I needed.  Well, that all changed on Saturday. I decided to clean out my spice cupboard and replace the spices in the rack with those that I use more.  I had just emptied out all the spices onto the counter when Katelyn and Jhessica came over.  Yup, they were a great help.  Here is my old but improved spice rack. With all my most used spices (with accompanying labels) in alphabetical order.  Oh, yeah.

Kyle's Surprise!

When I got home from work today, there was a blanket spread over the entire kitchen table with a note on top saying that it was a surprise for me and I shouldn't look at it.  Kyle and I had a busy evening, so when our paths finally crossed again, Kyle revealed his big secret.

This is what it was: 

One of my favorite authors is Victoria Holt. She wrote a ton of books that are romance mysteries.  Apparently BYU-I was selling a bunch of books, so Kyle bought all they had and brought them home for me. I was/am so excited!  I know what I'll be doing this summer!  And now we just need a nice big bookshelf.  Kyle, you totally rock! Love you!

p.s. don't mind my crazy hair, I went to water aerobics.  :)

Yellowstone National Park! part one

      Well, we finally made it to Yellowstone.  We had heard about it and talked about it so much, and we finally went.  Rexburg is about an hour and a half away from the west entrance, so we really have had no excuse for not going. This is possibly our last summer in Rexburg, so we've been feeling the pull of the national park more acutely.  Kyle checked out several books from the university library about The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, so we've been making small trips to visit landmarks that are fairly close.  Since we have Kyle's brother and my sister in Utah and both have expressed interest in going to Yellowstone with us, we decided it was time to check it out. Kyle has read a bunch of material about places to go and hikes that we need to go on. We left yesterday morning at about 9:30am.  It really is an amazing place.  I don't feel like I can explain in words, and the pictures don't do it justice, but it was an awe inspiring visit. I thought we'd see more animals, and luckily as we were leaving, we saw two groupings of bison, which was super cool.  Here are some pics from our adventure!

One of the gorgeous hot springs.  Some of the colors were astounding. 

Old Faithful!  We actually got to see it twice.  We arrived about 25 minutes before it was predicted to go off, after we got to see it in it's spectacularness, we had a picnic lunch, then went to walk around the big loop to see the other geysers, we were on the other side, when it went off again.  Really cool!

One of the rivers that run through Yellowstone.  This one actually had several hot springs that ran into it.

Downfall to the adventures:  Kyle didn't put on sunscreen soon enough.  He ended up with a pretty hefty sunburn.  I put sunscreen on as soon as I got out of the shower and then again at the park. My sunburn was minor, but still noticeable.

Bittersweet.

   Well, Friday was the last day of school. It was definitely bittersweet.  I have had such an amazing experience teaching this year.  The year started off kind of rocky.  I felt nervous and inexperienced, and to top it all off my aide quit after her second day.  The whole month of September I had one sub after another to fill her position.  They hired a replacement but she couldn't come until after harvest break (second week in October).  She was fantastic but unfortunately was offered a much better position elsewhere, so she gave her two weeks notice.  Luckily, one of the previous subs had been amazing, and so we hired her. Cathy was a Godsend.  She was such a great help and support. I could not have made it through this school year without her.  Aside from my fun, wonderful and at times oh so frustrating students, the other special ed teacher and her aide were great to work with.  I loved my principal and got along great with the other staff. I learned quickly and had a great mentor to answer all my questions. I was sad to leave on Friday after such a great year.  We have no idea what is in store for our family in the fall, so my sadness is due partially to the fact that we don't know yet if I'll be going back.  I hope so, but only time will tell. 

Here's a pic of my door and the beautiful flowers Kyle brought to me on the last day.

Dress #2

   Well, here it is! Dress #2 ended up being a little unusual.  If you've been reading my other posts you'll know that I made a skirt for Katelyn out of my blue and cream striped material.  I had plans to make myself a skirt since that didn't leave enough to make a dress.  Well, one day I was digging through some of my 'scrape' material and I found a t-shirt.  To back up a bit, on my mission there was this great lady in St. Marys with whom we spent a lot of time.  She had a small embroidery business and was able to get all sorts of shirts at wholesale price.  I think the shirts were about $2 a piece so I ended up buying about ten in various colors. I later went through a stage where I didn't like the necks of any t-shirts so I cut off the collar.  Then I realized (thanks, Amy) that they look pretty cruddy, and weren't really appropriate to wear like that.  I tried sewing the collar, but it never looked quite right.  So I ended up with quite a few useless t-shirts that are still waiting for my skillful hand to bring them back to life.  I found a cream one in that pile and it turns out that it matches perfectly with my blue and cream material.  So I did the only logical thing and made it into the top of a dress.  Pretty simple really.  I just scaled it down a bit, since I usually buy my t-shirts pretty big. I even fixed the collar, and then attached it to the bottom, and voila!  I love it!  the bottom is thin and airy, perfect for summer, and the top is a comfortable t-shirt.  

Dress #1!

I love my dress!  All day, I kept asking Kyle if he loved it too.   :)  It's super comfortable, and I thought it was pretty flattering.  I ended up taking the design from one dress for the top and another for the bottom.  I gathered the front and back to make the bottom fit, and then added the belt.  Over all I was super pleased.  It's not perfect and I think I can make the next one better.  Which I am excited to start soon!  This was suppose to be my summer project, but I'm just too excited about it. 

Kyle and I after church today.  We both taught successful lessons then had some friends over for lunch.  It was a good day!  And I am loving our 'almost' spring weather!

Love to Sew!

Remember how I mentioned that I had gotten a bunch of material to make dresses?  Well, I was showing my sister-in-law, Katelyn, my fabric and she said she loved the stripes and wished she had a skirt in that.  So, I cut out two skirts.  One for her and one for me.  We'll be so cool and matching.  :)  Here's the skirt I made for her tonight!

So, she doesn't actually have it on, because she was  heading out the door.  Hope you can tell how cute it turned out!

Our life and other things...

  Seems like we are always so busy!  Kyle started his LAST semester of his undergrad on Monday.  I am so excited for him.  It looks like he has a good schedule this semester, and it's really nice to have him home more.  Last semester he had a lot of group projects with multiple groups and it always seemed like he was working on something on campus.  This semester, he is taking mostly classes to have credits ready for his grad program.  We're still working on that application so hopefully it'll be in soon.

My life is always exciting.  One of my workout buddies of semesters past is back, and it's been nice to get to the gym more regularly.  I had a hard to getting to the gym on a regular basis in February and March, and I'm already feeling better for my efforts.  

On Thursday, I went with a friend from work down to Idaho Falls to Joann's Fabric store.  I have been wanting to get some knit fabric to make maxi dresses.  When I told my friend at work about it, she offered to help me make some patterns.  I brought my two favorite dresses in one day, and she quickly laid them out and made patterns, which was pretty awesome (she'd taken a class in college).  So then I was super excited to get to the store.  I bought 7 different fabrics and have plans for 5 dresses. I cut out one pattern last night, and I'm hoping to start sewing on it soon.  Pictures of completed dresses to follow.

On Saturday, I threw a baby shower for one of my good friends, Marilee.  She's expecting a baby girl in June and I had fun planning and preparing for her shower.  She wanted strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.  So yummy!  I also decided to do a diaper cake, which another friend helped my make.  So cute.  For the activity, we designed onesies.  It was a fantastic idea, again from a friend, and anyone reading this who may in the future throw me a baby shower, I want to this for it!   Here are a few pictures of the event.

 And that is Kyle in the background.  He helped us set up after he got off work, and he even helped blow up balloons.  Yeah, he's awesome like that.  :)

Problem --> Solution: my newest creation!

This year for Christmas, my mother and father-in-law got me a sweet mp3 player.  I love it.  It's so small and has a clip on the back, making it great to use while working out.  But I had a problem.  It really is so small that it got lost quickly in the bottom of my bag.  And I was worried about it getting all scratched up.  Automatically, I thought of making a cover for it, but it really is so small that I felt that to make a cover that was snug and fit would still mean it would get lost in my bag.  My other problem (I realized all these problems on the 28 hr train ride home from Iowa) was that my headphones got tangled up in everything.

Solution! 

I decided to make a little pouch/bag for my headphones and mp3 player.  And, of course I had to make one with an owl on it.  I found a super easy pattern today for an owl applique.  Here it is!  My little owl pouch for my music!  I think it's going to be just perfect.

NEW Shoes!

I know what you're thinking... 'she already has a bazillion pairs of shoes!'  Not running shoes!  So back in 2006, Kyle bought me a pair of New Balance running shoes.  They were on sale, I was poor, he loved me, so he bought them for me.  I then proceeded to wear them several days a week for the next 7 years.  I even took them on my mission and really ran in them!  Recently I noticed that they were getting a little thin on the bottom.  When I mentioned this to one of my workout buddies, she informed me that it's really not good on your body to wear worn out running shoes. Here's a couple pictures of the poor dears.

  As you can see, they really are very worn out. (Those grey triangles used to be all the way across the ball of the shoe and they even stuck out like the one on the upper left corner.) So I started shopping. I've had a few different kinds of running shoes and I usually end up with shin-splints.  My New Balance pair have been so awesome that I haven't had any pain.  The only problem was that they no longer make my model, so I was stuck.  I even emailed New Balance and asked what model they have that is closest to mine. I wasn't impressed with the model they told me about, so my search continued.  I had some money left from Kyle's parents on Amazon, which totally helped with the cost, but I couldn't bring myself to spend much.  Kyle kept telling me that for good shoes, I should just spend the money.  If anyone knows about my shoe fetish, they also know that I spent a max of $5 on every pair. Finally, I decided on these beauties, that look surprisingly like my old pair.  So far, I am loving them, but I haven't had them long, so hopefully they'll be exactly what I wanted.