Halloween Party...in Fort Collins

So we drove up to Fort Collins last night and went to Don and MaryEllen's ward party...since our ward does not have one. It was fun to see Kambria having a good time. She was so friendly and loved to hug all of the "animals." She is still a little young to understand what was going on, but she a fun time. And it was her first "trunk or treating." Trick or treating is for tonight. She of course was cute in her costume and MANY pictures were taken by the grandparents. We should get them back in a couple of days and then I will have to post them.

And Bryan and I took our pumpkins up to show them off in the pumpkin contest...we even won!!! (except I think everyone who had a pumpkin there won something ;o)) But mine was best idea since I turned my pumpkin on the side. And Bryan's was best design!

Carving pumpkins

So we had fun for FHE carving pumpkins. Bryan really got into it, but KAMBRIA was so excited she could hardly stand it. When you took away the pumpkin she threw a fit. So my mother watched her and helped her carve most the night. Thanks mom!! Here are the pictures to prove she was having so much fun!

Here she starts with the pumpkin...Then she shows how you pat the 'nice" pumpkins
And here she is digging her hand inside...
and then putting the "gupe" on the table I know, we all think she is so cute!!! but who can resist!!

Here is the family helping Kambria help Tess take the insides out of her pumpkin...by the way all of these pumpkins were home grown thanks to my mother! She definitely has the green thumb of the family!Tess and my dad posing with knives for a camera shot

And mine and Bryan's finished product! mine is the one on the left and Bryan's is on the right!...he had a pattern and mine is original!!! Sorry there are no photos of me...I was the one taking the pictures...pictures with me in them are coming...we are going up to Fort Collins tonight to participate in Bryan's parents' ward party since our ward does not have one (the bishopin our ward is against Halloween parties I guess)...so pictures are coming!

Our friends

This weekend we went and saw our friends Dre and Nate. I have not seen her while she is pregnant yet...she is 7 months! And we even live only about 20 minutes away. BUT none the less, we saw them this weekend and we Had a blast. we caught up on each others' lives and family members and what our near future holds...we ate dinner, which was homemade fettuccine Alfredo, watched the Rockies world series game on the TV, and played the Europe version of Ticket to ride, or known by us as the Train game. It was fun, but a challenge when you have a 14 month old running around a non-kidified apartment. But I managed to get through it with only one fit...which everyone agreed was definitely drama queen! And on top of it all Bryan won with 125 points...Dre was not far behind with 118! and then there was me at 90! Oh well. It was a fun night and we even got a picture--it was requested by our friends Jeff and Tammy!

Then on Sunday we drove up to Fort Collins to be at church witha his family and spent the day with Lisa and Erik and Madalyn. It was a fun day...we got home around 9:30! But it was well worth it. We went to a brand new park which was WAY cool. It had a little kids area for 2-5 year olds and a bigger area. there were even parts which were handicapped accessible! I thought that was REALLY cool. There were so many "new" areas of a park that I have never seen before. It was fun and we walked around the park and played for about an hour and a half!!! That just goes to show how fun it really was!

Here are some pictuers of Kambria in her cute church dress.

So that was the weekend...and now this week is the count down for Bryan not working at allosource any more. only 3 days to go!!! Then school begins next Monday! I can not believe 10 months have already passed and we are in school again, I say we, because I know and am willing to help Bryan study and get through this school.

I love halloween!

I have made Bryan dress up with me every year on Halloween since we have been married. I love Halloween in the sense that you can be something without feeling to silly for doing so. This year Kambria is going to be a little chick and Bryan and I have not decided what to be. he thinks we will be overshadowed by how cute Kambria is, but I still think it would be fun to be something. I have thought about trying to be a chick and make Bryan be a rooster, but I don't think I will have the time to figure out how to make that work...then I thought this morning that Bryan and I could be farmers! how cute would that be...and EASY too...what do you think?

When we finally get settled into our own place again I would LOVE to throw a Halloween party! That is one holiday that I can do with throwing a party!

Here are the Halloween pictures from previous years! Bryan is such a good sport!

This is Halloween 2004. We were Mickey and Minnie mouse.This is 2005. I had to dress up for my work so I had to be something with a carnival theme, hence the popcorn sales lady and Bryan was a Doctor since he already had the scrubs and stethoscope.This is 2006. We called Kambria our little monkey, so I made her a monkey outfit and me a hood and Bryan had to be a pirate for his work...Maybe this year we can ALL be themed together! We will have to see!

The standard questions answered...

I got this quiz off of my friend Tamie's web blog and I thought it would be fun to do too..Sorry but it IS long!!!

What is your husband's name: Bryan George

How long have you been together: We've been together for almost 4 years now...married for 3 and some months.

How long did you date: We dated 5 months and were engaged for 3 months until the wedding. So all together it was 8 months.

Who eats more: I would have to say Bryan!

Who said I love you first: Bryan did on his parents driveway on Saturday, January 10th, 2004...I only remember that because it was the first kiss too and I had been waiting almost a month after we were officially dating for that kiss...and it came with I love you too!!!

Who is taller: Bryan...no contest there..unless I am wearing REALLY tall shoes!
Who sings better: I would have to say Bryan again...but I can hold my own!~

Who is smarter: Depends on what you want to know...Finances are MINE and biology is DEFINITELY Bryan's area!
Whose temper is worse: I would have to say mine. Bryan is pretty even keeled! I spark up a little too often...but am working on it.
Who does the laundry: Me, most of the time, but Bryan would do it every so often if I asked him.

Who does the dishes: Pretty equal on that one.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: Bryan again
Who pays the bills: Me, but I have given up the credit card bill to him so he does it too.

Who cooks dinner: When we are living on our own usually me, although Bryan grills really well!

Who drives when you are together: It depends, but Bryan most of the time.
Who is more stubborn: Umm I would have to say me, but Bryan can get stubborn too!
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong: I would have to say we are both stubborn on this one. Although we have a little joke about it now that goes something like..."no you are right, and I am wrong. ;o)"

Whose parents do you see the most: Mine, but only because we are living with them right now...before it was Bryan's. I think it has been pretty even.

Who kissed who first: Bryan kissed me first! I waited a whole month for him to do it too!

Who asked who out first: Bryan asked me out first...it was kind of a hint from a mutual friend named Merrit, who I told that I wanted to go on a date with Bryan. But none-the-less he did ask.

Who proposed: Bryan did. EARLY in the morning on the top of a mountain near Horsetooth Reservoir. "I want to spend the rest of my life waking up to this," he said and got on one knee!!! I of course said yes, and cried my eyes out while we hugged for a REALLY long time!
Who is more sensitive: I think that it depends...Me with most things, Bryan when it comes to animals.
Who has more friends: I have more friends that I keep in contact with, but he knows a LOT more people than I do and knows someone EVERY where we go...it NEVER fails!

Who wears the pants in the family: Bryan on most things.

Where did you meet your husband: We met originally at a young single adult conference up at Estes Park, CO but then we solidified our "know yous" at institute choir.

What was the first thing you said to your husband: I have no idea. Probably something like "nice to meet you." But I do remember our first conversation being about Rick's college and finding out he ate lunch in the cafeteria for a whole year while I worked in the cafeteria a whole year...so we probably saw each other on a daily basis and never really knew it...

Where was your first date: Our fist "official" date was bowling...but we both like to think of our first date as walking down town Fort Collins on a cold night after the wards' talent show and him buying me a steamer.
Where was your first kiss: The same night as he said I love you on his parents driveway after driving back from my brother's, sister-in-law's, and Bryan's b-day celebration in Denver. I waited a month for that one!

Where did you get engaged: We got engaged at the top of a mountain at 6 AM!!! I LOVED it!!

Where were you married: In the Denver Colorado Temple on August 20,2004.
How did your reception go: It was quite amazing if you ask me! We stood in the reception line the WHOLE night except for a pre-planned intermission, that I did not know about, where Bryan sang me Josh Groban's song you raise me up!!! I bawled like a baby! It just happened to be what was on our wedding invitations and "our song." After that was cake cutting, our first dance and then back to the reception line...we even had to call it quits around 10pm...it started at 7~~that was a LONG night...but it was perfect!

Where was the honeymoon: In Denver. We only had 2 days and then school started. We went to a Rockies Baseball game and then the next day,since it was Sunday and we did not have anything else to do, we drove up to Estes Park and met up with his extended family who were mostly from Canada.

If you could have changed anything about it what would it have been: I just would have done a dance with my dad. It was a planned thing, but due to lack of time, we did not do it. I would liked to have done that. Other than that it was GREAT!!! and one of the best days up till now...only the birth of our daughter comes close to it.

Happy birthday Hayden!

These are Hayden as a new born baby!!! He was so small!

So I will not get to see my nephew Hayden on his 2nd birthday, but I just wanted to wish him a happy birthday. Hopefully I will get to see him this weekend at the baby shower for his mom and twin baby sisters. He is such a big boy now! I can remember when he was born and how fragile he was! He is not any more...he can run and jump and is such a "boy." He likes balls and is even getting better at sharing them with Kambria! I hope you have a good day buddy!

nothing much else happening here...I should post a picture of Kambria's new face she is pulling lately...The hands are usually not part of the face but this one is the best we have gotten...

She makes the whole family laugh and giggle when she does it. At first we thought she was pushing hard trying to poop, and then we figured out it is when she gets frustrated at something, and now she almost does it on command...It is cute but I wonder if it is healthy. Oh well.

the weekend...

Well, Time out for women went well. After talking with my mom about it, she thought she would not do it again. It did seem long for both of us...I think if I were to do it again, i would just do Friday night. I enjoyed that a lot more than I enjoyed Saturday. I do have to admit that there were some answered prayers though...one example was the a girl named Sabrena who Bryan knew up in Fort Collins came up to me and asked if I was Bryan's wife. I of course said yes and we exchange a few words...one happened to be that she lives in Denver now and works for the state under medicaid!!! WHAT an answer when I have been struggling to find someone who can talk to me about it and see what they can do to help...NOW I have a personal contact who even LIKES me!!! She even said so herself...I started to get a little teary eyed when I knew she was an answer...I would have NEVER gone up and said hello to her since I really did not know her...so when I got teary eyed, she said I knew I always liked you!!! I told her she was an answer to our prayers and she said she was glad to help. I called her today and she is sending paperwork my way! I am excited to see how it all goes! Come Nov 1, we are no longer insured, which is NOT a good thing. So I hope this happens fast, but with good results!!!



Another thing that happened at time out for women was that I learned how to be a better homemaker and friend to my siblings and parents...esp, my mother. it was good to go with her and I had a fun time hanging with her! Thanks mom!



While I was at time out for women, Bryan went to Fort Collins and came up with a budget with his dad to see how much of the federal loans and such we will need to be taking. I was surprised to see how we can REALLY do this financially! I am thankful to Don and his expertise on finances and for helping Bryan and myself understand it all. I have not done this loan thing before and it just goes to show how much I REALLY don't know! Btu things are looking good and I am excited to get going on Bryan's schooling! i am sure it will be tough, but well worth it! The count down has begun! Bryan even said last night that he is getting "trunky" for work to be done. For all you who do not understand missionary lingo, that means he is ready for work to be done! he just does not want to have to get up at 5 every morning anymore...he will just have a different type of work.



So that is my ramblings for today!

My baby is gone!

So I sit here at the computer trying to fill time...I just sent Bryan and Kambria off to Fort Collins by themselves!! THAT WAS HARD!!!! I about started crying. I have always had Kambria or Bryan with me and now I don't! They went up for the night to spend some time with his family. I would have gone but this weekend me and my mom are going to "Time out for Women." I am excited to go, but already miss Bryan and Kambria. I know that minute we go tonight I will forget about the fact that they are gone and will be fine. But I just had to post that is was hard saying goodbye! I will post again once I am done with this weekend!

Wordless wednesday..

Day 5 in Chicago

This is the last posting on our Chicago trip. This is what we did Friday, October 5, 2007. We drove the car to downtown Chicago again, of course Bryan drove. Then I drove from the campus to a parking garage at the Shedd Aquarium. That was enough driving for me. Then i walked from the parking garage up t the campus to pick Bryan up around noon when he was to be done. it is about 2 or 3 miles, which is not too bad...but the humidity was AWFUL!!! I don't know how much I sweat that day! But it was good exercise!
This is a picture of the street that you have to cross to get to the Chicago campus. We thought it too good to pass up! After I parked the car, I began walking toward the city again and this is the view...can you see all the sailboats parked in the harbor? I thought it was so fun too see! We were walking right along the coast.This is the famous Buckingham Fountain. But as you can see in the next picture, they wont let you get too close!
There is a fence all the way around it. I guess for security reasons...But it sure is pretty!It started to rain as we were leaving this fountain, and so we ducked into a parking garage and talked to a couple people while they waited it out too. It was not more than 15 minutes of waiting...it was still sprinkling as we walked, but it wasn't too bad

This is Kambria playing in a fountain at the Vietnam war memorial, that we found as we tried to avoid the rain. It was a fountain more her size anyway!

Then it started to rain on us again, so we snuck into a dunkin doughnuts place and got a muffin and some OJ. And waited it out, again. By this time we had to book it to get to the campus in time...we walked so fast that we even had some time to check out the local Gap store. The Bryan called and we went to the Disney store. Good Thing Kambria is not old enough to want anything thing from there yet. Then we went and bought Bryan a Northwestern hoodie sweatshirt and a textbook...yeah fun! Then we were headed to the aquarium!!! That is where Bryan wanted to go since he found out there was one in Chicago!

So the next couple of pictures are from the aquarium.
This is the baby beluga! It was only born on August 16, 2007. It was quite fun to watch and sing the baby beluga song. We ended up getting Kambria the book Baby Beluga...that was our "big" purchase from the store. ;o)

This is Kambria and I watching the dolphinsThis is Kambria clapping for the dolphin show!Bryan and Kambria watching the sea lion coming out to say hello. This is the sea lion showing us his tricks.This is a jelly fish! they were way cool to see.
The Family in the aquarium! They wouldn't let you use a flash so this was as good as it got!
This is a komodo dragon lizard. He was HUGE!!!

And this is the fam just outside the aquarium. It was worth the money and i am glad that we went. Especially since Bryan could see it with us too.

And the last picture of the exciting week...the soap at the hotel...it had Kambria's name on it! Except for the "c" of course, but it was as close as we had ever seen! Maybe our next kid will be Taylor? I don't think so, but you never know.

And to finish the trip off, the rest of the story....

When we got up Saturday morning and drove to drop off the rental it took twice as much time due to figuring out the whole flat tire reimbursement! What "Cheryl" told me was it was no big deal, they would just take the charge off from the cost of the rental car. Well since we went through hot wire, supposedly the deal was already a closed one and so there was to be no refund! OH my!!! I was ticked! I know it was not that much money, but the fact that Cheryl had told me to do it. So I left and got on the bus and waited for Bryan so I would not say something I would regret. Well Bryan was polite enough to work it through...30 minutes later...good thing we were not in a rush to get to the airport!!!! So what ended up happening was that we were to get vouchers in the mail for 30 toward our next rental....ugh! not what i wanted!!! Who knows when the next time we are going to rent something! but whatever right!!! Right! So we made it home safe and sound and the rest is history!!!

on a side note...we just got our credit card statement and budget refunded $27.80 on our card!!! Now how hard was that!!!!! some peoples kids!!! So I hope you have enjoyed our little Chicago journey! We sure did...

And to make it clear for everyone... while in Chicago, Bryan and I decided we liked it enough to make it the school of choice. So Bryan turned down California....sorry Kristy...and accepted Chicago. So he starts school on Nov 5 online until march sometime. Then we will move out there sometime in April so he can do the on-site clinical portion of the school from May5-June 27. Then we will move again to wherever he finds a residency at...which we have thrown around the idea of St, George UT. but we will not know that for quite some time! Thanks for indulging my long windiness and pictures!

A good day...

Well I have been so busy posting about Chicago and trying to get it all documented, I have slacked off on the few happenings this past weekend. Saturday was Nealson's 30th birthday and my 28th was yesterday, and Hayden's is the 23rd. He will be 2~! man how time flies! I remember when he was born and was just a small little thing! so on Saturday we all got together and celebrated. Nelson, Leah, Hayden, Brady and Leah's family went to the circus that morning...but since we are on a budget now...$20 a person was a little too steep for us. So we just waited until Saturday night and then celebrated with them. It was fun to see Hayden excited about his John Deere trucks that my mom gave him and his telephone and key too... Kambria was trying to take them away from him so we had to go get her set of keys and phone that Nate ans Sarah gave her for her 1st birthday. It was cute to see the two of them playing together.

Nelson and Leah gave me some books about Chicago and Illinois so I could learn lots more! I thought it was a great idea! And we gave Nelson a gift certificate to Chili's...we figured he might need it once the twins are born! And we gave Hayden a cute little boys church outfit! It had a clip on tie and vest. We thought it was too cute to pass up! It was a good and fun celebration!

Then on Sunday, Kambria and I woke up with Bryan's cold. Only ours was pretty bad. So we stayed home from church and rested! It was a good thing...Kambria would have been a cranky kid!

And then yesterday...my birthday. It was a good day, but as you get older your birthdays are not quite the same. They turn out to be just another day. Bryan was really cute all day and kept wishing me happy birthday. It was what made the whole day. Brady and and Mom and Dad wished me happy birthday too. I guess Tess forgot or did not think it was that important since we celebrated it on Saturday. Oh well. I even got a text message from Bryan's sister Lisa! I was surprised she even remembered, which made it even better. Thanks Lisa!!! And Don and MaryEllen called and wished me happy birthday too! I felt LOVED by my in-laws!
So to celebrate my "big day" Bryan and I went to Chili's while we left Kambria with my Mom and Dad. It was nice to be alone. Then we came back home and played the 1910 version of Ticket to Ride with Mom and Dad. I won! my record best of 189 points! Bryan still wins with a record of 200, but I came closer. It was a fun night. So that in an egg shell was my 28th birthday...like I said, as you get older the day becomes more "normal." No complaints here.

Day 4 in Chicago

So after a long day the day before, Kambria and I decided we were going to take it easy. So after dropping Bryan off at Evanston campus, we parked the car and walked to the edge most part of campus that we could get to and took this picture. This is how close, really, the campus is to lake Michigan. It truly is an amazing site to see. I am excited when we go back to really roam on the campus...something we did not have a whole lot of time to do.

This is one of the campus buildings. I LOVED all the green ivy on the building. After we went back to the hotel I decided we were going to try and find a park to play at again since Kambria had such a good time. Well I started to drive around and came upon this...

It was quite funny to see the leaning tower of Pisa in Evanston, Illinois! So I had to take a picture. I pulled over, but Kambria had fallen asleep, so I just took it from inside the car...

This is a picture showing that there is polish writing on some of the buildings. When I was showing our pictures to my family, my dad asked to translate the polish for him...um Dad...it says checks cashed...;o)

This is Kambria pointing at a caterpillar she found on the ground. I thought it was too cute to pass up!

Oh mom! I found a new fun toy. It is a pine cone honey! After we played on the play ground we went and picked up Bryan and headed for downtown Chicago again. This time we were experts on the train thing right? well, not exactly! But we got better than the night before!

So we rode the train down, and then walked to the bus stop that would take us out to Navy Pier. We went to the children's museum, which was free on Thursday nights, which is why we went on Thursday night!!! I am all about FREE!!! It was really a neat thing, especially if Kambria was older and really understood what was going on! But even still it was fun to see her interacting with the statues and the other kids. We went through it pretty fast, but Bryan had more fun with it that I think Kambria did at times! That is my husband for you!!!! Got to love him...he is just a big kid!

This is a picture of apartments and a parking lot on the bottom...Bryan and I thought it was quite the setup...all the cars are parking in backwards with only a rope stopping them from plummeting below!

This is the famous house of Blues...just verifying that we did see the sign..we did not go to it though.This is a pictures entering Navy Pier from the bus. not bad eh?This is me and Kambria who is trying to be a brave girl and not be scared of the big furry dog! I think she did OK!From the time Kambria was born we called her our little monkey! She was even a monkey Halloween 2006. She LOVED this monkey when she saw it! That's our little monkey!
Bryan and Kambria...i thought it turned out good!This is kambria playing in the water part of the children's museum. She loved the water...to bad i had to hold her up to get there.These were giant flowers made of plastic type foam stuff...who knows what it really is called!kambria saying bye to dad and she drives off into the sun set! This was just outside, yet still inside the building, of the children's museum. It was a fun place to see in the middle of Chicago! Palm trees none the less, with streaming water overhead.

This is a video of the streaming water.

And the food we ate on Navy Pier... Bryan had a famous Chicago style hot dog, while I had the Dallas dog with onions and cheese only please! The picture makes it look quite disgusting, but it tasted good!The famous Ferris wheel at navy pier.

Just fr kicks and giggles! Bubba Gum Shrimp!This was the end of day 4! we are almost done!