TOFW

I had the wonderful opportunity of going to Time Out for Women this past weekend in Idaho Falls.  One of my best friends, Marilee, asked me way back in November if I'd go with her.  I have always wanted to go and it was as good as I always thought it would be.  Both Friday and Saturday were amazing.  Thanks, Marilee for inviting me!

Sisters!

Amy flew out to Utah at the end of February. I like to pretend that it was to hang out with her awesome sisters, but I know it was mostly to see her fiancee (said with an annoying nasal voice like on Singing in the Rain).  It was so fun to hang out with her and Beth (we missed Ginny!).  Here are a few pics from the trip.

  Kyle next to a giant piece of ice that had come down the mountain.

  Kyle and I at Bridal Veil Falls.

  Sisters!

 I had to include this one, our hair is pretty windblown.  Well, I guess Amy and Beth are getting the brunt of it.  :)

 In other news, my job continues to challenge me. I feel like I'm in this horribly unhealthy relationship most days.  I love all my students and missed them over break but sometimes, I really really hate them.  Right now, I plan on teaching next year and that will be a whole revamping of my curriculum.  It will be good for my students but I'm not looking forward to the amount of work it will take to get it together.  I am also taking piano lessons right now.  It is turning out to be pretty tough.  I feel like in every other aspect of my life I am not a perfectionist.  When crafting and sewing, if something is a little wrong, I just go with it.  But I have found that in my piano playing I want everything to be perfect.  This is great, except that when I go to a lesson and play something I'd been practicing all week less then perfect, it leaves me feeling discouraged. My piano teacher is great, though and gives me lots of encouragement.

Kyle is very busy with his program.  His grad classes are difficult and he has to spend a lot of time studying.  He also has a lot of responsibility in his program and has become an asset (I'm sure when he reads this, he'll say I'm exaggerating, but just believe me that I'm not). We are looking forward to his internship in D.C. this summer.  This is an open invitation if anyone wants to take a summer vacation to the Capitol of the United States.  I am looking forward to seeing all the sights.   And hopefully some family!

December!

You know it's bad when I start titling my blog posts by month.  I need to get better at blogging more often.  Well, December was a nice month.  Pocatello had some snow before and around Christmas.  On the 23rd, Kyle had a test in Ogden, UT and a friend in his program offered to let us stay with them at his grandmother's apartment in Salt Lake. The apartment was literally across the street from the Conference Center, with a big window in the living room, we had a beautiful view of the Salt Lake Temple with all the lights.  It was chilly and drizzling, but Kyle and I decided to go walk around temple square.  So beautiful!

We had a fun time hanging with Angela and Ryan and their kids, the drive to Ogden was better than it would have been if we were in Pocatello, and then Kyle rocked his test.  I am so proud of him and all the hard work he has been putting into this program!

Kyle and I had a very nice quiet Christmas.  It was just the two of us.  We slept in as late as we wanted and took our time opening presents.  I made our stockings this year, and I'd like to keep the tradition going and crochet stockings for all our kids.  We also got a real Christmas tree this year, and I loved it!  So beautiful and it smelled so good!

I made a delicious but simple Christmas dinner.  We had a smoked ham, cheesy potatoes, fresh sauteed green beans, rhodes rolls and some bubbly. So yummy!

We also celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary on December 30th.  We've accomplished a lot in 3 years and I'm excited for our future adventures.

November!

November was an exciting month to prepare for Thanksgiving!  We invited some friends from Rexburg and my sister and her family came from Utah for Thanksgiving dinner. Kyle and I conquered our very first turkey (by ourselves).  And it turned out amazing.  Everyone brought delicious food and the company was fantastic.

During Beth, Wade and James' visit, we did Lee Family pictures.  I like to pretend that I have a tiny bit of an eye for photography.  Very amateur, but I enjoy it.  Beth and I (early risers) took James' one year pictures pretty early before the men were up and about.  James is a morning person too, so those pictures were fun and James was an excellent model.  When we tried to take the family pictures later in the afternoon, James was no longer on his morning highs, so it was a little more difficult.  Luckily the weather wasn't too cold and we got some good shots. Here's a few pics from the photo shoot.

October!

Seeing Josh Groban in concert was definitely a major highlight of October, but I also had other fun things happen.  One of them was my good friend, Nicole's, baby shower.  I had the opportunity and privilege to help her get ready for it.  I did the refreshments and Nicole did the decorations and then we got together to make it beautiful.  Here are a few pics from her shower.

I have so much fun making diaper cakes, and I think they look so cute.  A friend here in Pocatello helped me put this one together.

Nicole has actually had her baby now!  I'm so excited to meet baby Allison!

It was so much fun to see friends from Rexburg.  I am enjoying Pocatello, but that's what I miss the most about Rexburg.  I had friends so close.  Literally in the apartment above me and in the buildings on either side.  It's been a struggle for me to find as good and as close friends as I had in Rexburg.

 Emily, Marilee, me and Kristin!  I love my Rexburg friends! (Nicole included, of course.)

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!