Change of Plan

Do you all know how much we LOVE Cache Valley.  There's so much to love.  Like this view.

Taken from this spot. (We call it "ours" but I'm sure lots of couples do).

There's also the drive to get here from anywhere South of here.

It's breathtaking almost any time of the year.

Don't forget USU and all that goes with it.  This was a fabulous game.  GO AGGIES!

The Pumpkin Walk-- a cheesy, yet fun (and free) way to freeze your tush off in October.

There is SO MUCH more that I love about this place.  Like Summer.  Everything about summertime is a big part of why the plan was to stay here.  Steven was supposed to find a great job close(ish?) and we were going to build a house somewhere in the South end of the Valley, and raise our kids here.  THAT was OUR plan.  Guess what?  We're not in charge.  And the One that is in charge?  Well, let's just say I'm pretty sure he chuckled and thought "how cute, but I've got another idea."

It all started a few weeks ago when I was routinely looking for jobs that had Steven's "key words" in them.  (Since I was just sitting at home all day, I figured I'd be useful and try to find him a better job- one that could support a baby).  I was searching all of Utah, because, let's face it, there aren't that great of job opportunities all the time in Cache Valley.  I stumbled upon a job that sounded perfect, but it was in Lehi.  I sent Steven the link (I actually sent him several links- like 3 or 4 every time I searched).  He applied.  He got an email a few days later asking for a phone interview.  The phone interview led to an invitation to be interviewed in person 5 days later (in Lehi). Three days after that, he got a phone call (he missed it, but they were calling to offer the job to him).  Wednesday this week, he put in his 2 weeks notice at his current job and accepted the new job.  He starts in less than 2 weeks.  In Lehi.  

LEHI.  Do you know where Lehi is?  It's in UTAH COUNTY, a place I swore I would not ever live.  (I am still very firm on the fact that I will not EVER live in Provo.  No matter what.  But that's a different story for a different day).  Lehi is 2 hours... TWO HOURS away from my  beloved Cache Valley.  You know we JUST found a dentist (I know, it took us long enough).  I really like my doctor, and we are pretty fond of the pediatrician we had chosen too.  (However, we really hated the eye doctor we went to, so not much of a loss there...)  Now we have to find new ones again.  Ugh.  And right after we have a new baby, too.

We are also sad about leaving our wonderful ward.  I don't know that I've ever been so sad about leaving a group of people before.  They are wonderful, and we are going to severely miss all of them.

Oh, yeah.  Remember how we're having a baby?  Like any day now (please, Please, PLEASE any day now)?  Life really couldn't have picked a better time to become absolutely CRAZY.

I have to stop here though and tell you all that we are excited also.  Steven is actually going to enjoy going to work.  We will actually be able to pay for the child that currently seems set on living the rest of his life inside of me.  We will have new adventures.  We will meet more wonderful people.  And we may be moving to Cougar Country, but we'll still be Aggies.  Don't worry.

So, there you have it folks.  I believe I recently posted about a "whole new book" in my life... and I believe I have been enlightened on just how new it is.

Graduation!

USU Graduate!

Jump! 

Preggo

Getting my diploma cover

Just after I went across the stage

With my Hubby!

I don't know if it has really sunk in yet... It just feels like another Sunday evening.  But, for real... I'm DONE.  No more classes, no more work (haha, well, no more work outside my home... and no more paycheck) no more practicum.  I'm done.  I attended 17 years of school, and now it's over.  I would say it's a whole new chapter, but it almost seems bigger than that.  Like, another book... I'll call it Volume II.  I thought about that for a minute, but I really don't know if I've ever felt like this before.  Not when I graduated High School and came to USU, not when I went on my mission, and not even when I got married.  This is a clearly defined line between one part of my life and the next.  So, yes, Volume II is a good name for the beginning of this next phase of life.  There will be many chapters of this next book, and I am excited to see what life has in store for us!

I will be spending the next few weeks preparing for our baby.  We are so excited (and a little nervous).  We're about to sail on uncharted waters, but I'm sure we'll learn the ropes quickly enough to keep afloat :)  Bring on the Future!

And so we meet again

I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing, but I'll try to be better.
Where should I begin?
How about my belly:

We got these pictures done on March 29, by Mekenzi Cornwell.  She is AWESOME.  AND she's reasonably priced, which is definitely a plus.  I was about 32 weeks pregnant in these.

Also, we had a big ol' gender reveal party with cake :)  Here's a video of the cake cutting: gender reveal movie
(If you can't see it, let me know and I"ll fix it)

We are so excited for our little man to get here!  We plan on naming him Bennett ______ Stoddard.  (deciding a name for a kid is hard- I mean, he has to live with it his whole life!- and we haven't settled on a middle name yet- only on the fact that he will have one.)

On to other things.  I am this close to being done with my undergraduate degree.  I mean, insanely close.  I have 4 more classes I have to attend (that's class periods, folks, not full classes), 2 papers I need to write, and 1 stage I get to walk across.  That's it.  I'm done.  Then I get to be a mommy.

But guess what!  I just had to go looking to see what kind of masters programs are offered at USU... and I found one that got me really excited/motivated to do graduate school.  Don't worry, I'm not jumping into that one right away.  But, it's definitely in the plan, maybe in a in-the-next-five-years plan.  I'm not really sure what the future holds, but I know that sometime, I will be continuing my education even further.  In the mean time, I'll focus on my little man and my hubby (who is chugging right along in school).

Goodbye for now from a girl who's feeling just a little to big to feel "cute" anymore, and still planning on waiting about 6 more weeks for her baby.

Oh, hi!

Ok, well, it's been a long while since I've posted.  But what I really wanted to write about, I couldn't yet.  But now I can.  Yay!  So here's an update on us...

Steven is all done for the semester!  Woo Hoo!  (And how many more years to go?  You can do it hon!)   He passed his last test a few weeks ago, and now he's just studying a little to get a jump start on the classes he'll be doing starting in January.

I am almost done with this semester.  I have two weeks left of classes, and then finals week.  I am SO ready for that.  We were lucked out and got tickets to see the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert on the Saturday after finals week, so I am also SO excited for that (maybe mostly because it will mean I get a vacation from school!)

I think that the last time I posted was around my birthday.  Well, I got a present that I didn't tell anyone about.  I found out that my lifelong dream of becoming a mom is going to be a reality!  I found out on September 20th that I'm pregnant, and I'm due on May 28th (which is the day after Steven's birthday).  So basically, it's a birthday present to both of us!  We are so excited, and since I'm moving into week 14, I'm starting to feel good without the magical (and I mean magical) concoction of half a unisom and 25 mg of a B6 vitamin.  That stuff has gotten me through this semester with my grades intact.  We got to see our little Sea-Monkey (nickname courtesy of my funny sister on a mission) on October 22, and our baby must have known we were watching and waved to us.  :-)  While seeing that little bean on the screen was cool, I think hearing the heartbeat was the most awesome.  We got to hear it again just a week ago.  I am not really showing yet, so the heartbeat just makes it seem so much more real.  (That, and the fact that my jeans are feeling just a little too tight lately).

We started spreading our excitement the Sunday before Thanksgiving when we told Steven's mom.  Wednesday and Thursday we took joy in telling the rest of our family members.  My siblings are so super excited.  This is the first baby on my side, so we have brand new Grandma, Grandpa, aunts and uncles-- all of which are EXTREMELY excited... and some are telling our baby which gender to be (boys are saying boy and girls are saying girl... go figure).  I told them that the gender (whichever it is) is not going to change no matter how much they want it to.  Me?  I just want a healthy baby (and please one that doesn't come too early... I have graduation!).  I learned my lesson on posting wishes here and then here.  So that's all I'm saying about that.

We are excited and possibly a little nervous, but mostly we are just excited to become parents!

Fall! I love Fall!

Because of the colors!  And, of course, my BIRTHDAY!

This year, we went to the Zoo for my birthday, with my cousin and his wife.  We had fun!

 I love the new Rocky Shores Exhibit.  But I really wanted the polar bear to get in  the water, not just drink it...

 Us with Matt and Jenica by the Elephant encounter.

And we stopped in Sardine Canyon to take a picture on our way home!  BEAUTIFUL colors!

South of the Boarder Skillet

I found this recipe via Pinterest, and we had it for dinner last night.  This is SO good, and it's pretty cheap to make.

 

                            Cook the rice                                     Saute onions in cooking oil

Add the spices (cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, and salt) and cook for about a minute

  Remove from heat.  Add the kidney beans, eggs, milk, rice, and cheese; mix (I added cheese on top too)

 Bake it (either in a cast iron skillet, or just a regular baking dish) in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes (until the center is set).  Eat it with salsa and sour cream.

*I think this would be good with some ground hamburger, or shredded chicken in it as well, if you want to add a little meat.

That's it for now, I just wanted to share this delicious meal we had!

So-long Summer!

Well, we had an awesome summer, here's a recap.

My Lil’ Sis got a mission call (she's going to Zambia... that's in Africa, in case you didn't know) and she came to Logan to go through the temple.  I was TOTALLY ok with this since we live about 3 minutes from the temple.  No traveling!  

We had a great time!  After the temple, we went to the Center Street Grill, where my 81 year old grandma shot her straw wrapper at me from across the table.  I guess I should set a better example.

We hiked to the Wind Caves!

We gave blood for our stake's blood drive.  This probably wouldn't have made the recap... except, well... (here's your gore warning- if you don't do blood scroll past the pictures quickly... the story will follow)

So, when we went to donate, Steven got done a couple minutes before me and walked over to the snack table.  By the time he sat down, I was done and had my snack.  Almost as soon as I sat next to him, he said he was getting light headed, and then he tipped over; first onto me, and then onto the floor face first.  His glasses somehow survived the fall, but in the process they sliced his eyebrow. 

The first picture is the patch-job the red cross people put on it so it wouldn't make a mess on our way to the InstaCare.  When we got there, they took off the tape, cleaned it up and numbed it.  The doctor asked me if I had pulled it open to see how deep it was... and since I hadn't, she did it for me so I could snap it.  Then she stitched it up.  The last few photos are the 2 days after the stitches went in.

They told us to come back in 5 days to get the stitches removed... but we were going to be in Oregon in 5 days, so she gave me a kit that had scissors and tweezers in it so I could take them out.  (I have no pictures of that happening... sorry)

That brings us to the next thing we did... OREGON!

Temple!  This one is so beautiful!

Beach!

Japanese boat dock

We think this was jellyfish... they were all over the beaches.

Beach sunset on our last night

This much needed vacation was a blast.  :)

Right after we got back from Oregon, we went to Manti.  I only got a picture in front of Temple, but we also went to the pageant the night before. 

We went to Bear Lake- my favorite place, I wish we could go more often.

On the 4th of July, we went to Hyrum and watched the Fireworks.

Sparklers!  Lovin' the patriotic holidays!

I went to a parade and saw these guys...

Since my sister is going on a mission, my mom took her on a trip to see some temples, and I went with.  This is outside the Twin Falls Temple.

 This Shoshone Falls (Can't go to Twin Falls without seeing this...)

This is the Colombia River Temple, we also saw Rexburg, Idaho Falls, Seattle, Portland, Medford, and Reno.  It was a long, exhausting, fun trip :)

And I drove the car through a redwood tree!

My cousin got married in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, and we went to the copper mine between the lunch and the reception.

Welp, that's the summer!  It was a good one, and now school is in full swing.  First week and I already had 2 papers due yesterday.  But it's alright cause it's my last year.  Bring it on.