A First for Mommy

I just have to laugh....I didn't realize that Stephen would be blogging as much as he is.  It's always been something that I've done, but lately he's much better at keeping things updated than I am. I guess it's a bit therapeutic for the both of us and a way for us to let everyone know what's happening,  without having to repeat ourselves a bunch of times. Again we are so grateful for the love and support we have been given and that is really what is keeping us going.
Last Friday, we made it through the first two weeks of being parents. These two weeks have seemed forever long... but we're making it day by day...literally. We had a huge milestone with Ethan on his two week birthday that has been such a treasure.  I hope that I can do this with my Andrew someday too. :)  I was able to hold him for the first time. It was such a surprise when they told us we could do this. I honestly thought that it would be a very long time before I'd be able to hold my babies in my arms.
Well, last Friday I got to hold Ethan for the first time. This was the best little birthday present I could have ever wished for. We did what they call "Kangaroo Care" where I held him skin to skin. I cherished this moment and could feel the strength of his little spirit fill my soul. I kept telling Stephen and the nurses that I could do this all day long. Of course they wouldn't let me hold him ALL day....but Ethan did let me hold him for about 45 minutes. During that time all of his vitals (breathing, oxygen level, heart rate, body temperature etc) were better than they had been all morning. Then he told us he was done and wanted to get back into his bed. I think I really needed this and it really energized my spirit and heart so much. It sometimes just kills me inside to see my boys laying there with so many wires, tubes, machines, and alarms going off. I feel very helpless as a mom, in what I can do for them. But this experience helped boost my spirits a bit.

On another note...
Here's a picture of one of their little diapers next to our  iphone. The funny part is that these diapers are too big for them and we have to fold them down.  Crazy I know!

Also, we are starting to learn a little bit about their personalities. Andrew, as sick as he is, has shown us what a sweet boy he is. He has opened his eyes when he hears his mom and dad and just looks at us. It truly melts my heart. He's also a very sensitive boy and any tweak the nurses try to make...he let's them know if he likes it or not. Sometimes I just have to smile at this. Ethan on the other hand is quite  the wiggle worm and any time they position him and get him all tucked in nice and tight. His arms and legs work their way out pretty quickly. Last night, he wiggled so much that his little hand pulled his feeding tube right out. Ethan also loves to make some funny faces. They make me laugh. Here's a few more pictures to enjoy!

My Monkey Boy! I just love this face!

Ethan Holding his Pacifier

First time I met my Ethan!

"holding" my sweetheart Andrew

First time I met my little Andrew!

Andrew taking a nap

Andrew had a rough day yesterday

I debated whether or not to update this right now, but decided it was the best way to communicate to our friends. Yesterday afternoon our Andrew started going downhill, such that the doctors discussed "options" with us (those options all have the same outcome). We are praying that the Lord's will be done in the Lord's time. We stayed at the hospital last night to be close in case it was his time, but he re-stabilized and "turned a corner" and today we are seeing incremental improvement again (although he is much sicker than he was yesterday morning before things started deteriorating). The wonderful staff at the NICU up there is helping us prepare with great kindness and sensitivity. We love those nurses and doctors!

We'll ask that no one call or text on the phone, but emails and written comments of your love and support are comforting and appreciated. We feel of your love for us, and we are grateful.

Ethan continues to be a rock-star, and is excelling in every way. Even medically things are very positive, with only a few big hurdles to overcome still.

Some great news for Ethan!

I am very excited to share some really really good news with you all -- Our Ethan is off of CPAP and NIPPV, and is pretty much breathing room air almost entirely on his own! He has a little nose canula which delivers air at 1 Liter (I think per minute), but is usually set at 21 - 24% oxygen, and usually at 21 - 22%!! This is GREAT news for him. He continues to tolerate his feedings well, and today they increased him to 5 ml/3hours. He is also officially over his birthweight, after losing about 15% the first week. So he really is doing fantastic in pretty much every way we can hope right now. In my opinion (very professional, I know) he is no longer in "critical" condition.

Andrew is doing very well also. His infections still haven't progressed, which at this point is all that we are hoping for. He also still hasn't had anything grow from the cultures of his lumbar puncture, which is huge as meningitis would be the end of the road for him. He is slowly weaning off the ventilator, although he still depends on it for most of his breathing.

We've seen them both open their eyes, and the past two days as soon as I come to see Andrew and start whispering to him, he opens his eyes wide and looks right at me -- I know that he can't see anything yet, but it is still special!

And Emily wants to share a sweet experience with our Ethan, so you'll probably get two posts in one day!

Infections are no fun

So I just wanted to post another update on here. The blog is kind of Emily's thing, and I think this might actually be my first official blog post. Heh.

So our saga continues with Andrew and Ethan. We have received so much support from our family and friends. My colleagues in the MBA program have bent over backwards to keep me on track, and to carry me in my group work, which has been a godsend so I can focus on my family.

Ethan is doing REALLY well. He continues to improve and strengthen. He doesn't really gain weight yet, but he's pretty much stopped losing weight. He has been exceeding our expectations on the ventilator -- he is now essentially breathing entirely on his own. All he needs is the CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) to keep his lungs inflated, a little puff of air every once in a while to remind him to breathe, and a little bit of supplemental oxygen (we breathe 21%, and he breathes anywhere from 21% to 33% depending on if he's being bothered or not).

Also, he is now eating some milk, which we're really excited about because he'll be getting those antibodies and good nutrition. They started him at 1 ml every 6 hours, but he has been tolerating it really well, so now its up to 2 ml every 3 hours. They're being careful with it to make sure it doesn't hurt his gastrointestinal system (getting NEC or Necrotizing Enterocolitis).

So, Ethan is really doing pretty much everything that we want him to. It has been such a relief to have so few problems with him!

Our Andrew seems to want to be the center of attention more than Ethan. He has been getting a little bit better on his ventilator, and recently was taken off the one that does all the breathing for him to one which only breathes for him when he doesn't breathe. Its about half and half right now. Our biggest worry about Andrew is that he has three different infections. Two are pretty common -- yeast and staph. The third is quite rare in premature infants -- aspergillus. Its a nasty fungus, and we're pretty worried about it. The good news is that even though it tends to spread very quickly, it hasn't spread to any of his internal organs -- even though he's had it for about 4 days or so. Another tough thing is that he once again has had some blood in his lungs, and they had to stop feeding him milk because his stomach wasn't doing well with it. We hope to start again tomorrow or Saturday. Once Andrew makes a little more progress on his ventilator, beats these infections, and starts eating well we'll be able to breathe a lot easier. For now its a wait and see situation -- the doctors are unable to give us any assurances other than there is still hope that everything will be ok.

I hope that I can post something this weekend that there isn't any blood in his lungs and that he has resumed his feedings. As long as the infections don't get worse, that will be a victory -- the treatment for the fungus lasts 3 - 6 weeks, so it will be a while before it disappears.

Thank you for your love and prayers. We need those prayers more than anything else!

Our First Week

We've made it through a very long week with many ups and downs.  Words really can't express how we're feeling and everything we've gone through, but I'll try to do what I can. We are humbled to know that so many are praying for us. We have really felt the strength and overwhelming power of those many prayers that have been said in our family's behalf and want to thank you. I really think that is what has gotten us through this week.

Each day our boys are with us is a huge blessing and we're enjoying every minute we can spend with them.  Being born at 26 1/2 weeks they have so many challenges ahead of them. Basically in a nutshell, the doctors have been focusing on their major organs (heart, brain & lungs) as these are not fully developed at this young age. They are in very critical condition and will be for the next few weeks. We've learned very quickly that being in the NICU is a roller coaster with many ups and downs every day, hour and minute. We'll take all the ups we can get. Here's some great little miracles we've seen this week. Both boys had very unstable blood pressure the first few days of life. They both are now doing great with that and are totally off all their blood pressure medicine and are able to stabilize this all on their own. Yesterday, Ethan was able to breathe on his own and now has a less extreme ventilator. Instead of continuous support with rapid breaths, this new ventilator will let him do most of the work and support his lungs when he forgets to breathe on his own or when he's not getting enough oxygen with the breaths he's taking. Andrew is not far behind him and we hope that in the next day or so he'll be on the same type of ventilator. Both boys have lost quite a bit of weight and today Andrew weighed 1 lb 14 oz and Ethan was 1 lb and 12 oz. Because they have become a bit more stable the last few days, they both got their first feeding of my milk. It's a very tiny amount (1 ml every 6 hours)...but we're excited and hopefully some of their weight will come back soon!!! Although, there are a lot of complications that can happen when they introduce this milk, we're now praying that their digestive track can handle this. We've been told that feeding will be another big hurdle we have ahead of us.

As for me, I'm still trying to recover and wishing that this process would go much faster than it is. I'm still trying to take it easy, which is hard for me. I'm one who 'keeping busy' keeps my mind off of things. But I have a wonderful husband who is helping me so much and family who is so close.

 Here are a few pictures of our little warriors!

Andrew just relaxing before having his "cares" done

Andrew's tiny feet

 Ethan as he is getting ready to transfer hospitals

Stephen holding Ethan's Hand for the first time

We have noticed a few things to tell these little boys apart. Andrew has dark black hair and Ethan has lighter brown hair (although it's hard to see in pictures)...we'll see how this changes over time. Also, Ethan's toes are farther apart with a little space between two of them on each foot, where Andrew's toes are much closer together.  It's fun to see how each different nurse that works with them notices and comments on their different little features.

Our Little Boys Are Here!!!

Much to our surprise our little boys decided to come 3 months early! They gave us no warning and we were totally not prepared. We're now wondering if this is going to be what their little personalities are like. They seem to sure like giving their parents a scare!!!

We'd like to introduce you to...

 Ethan Gerald Holden

March 25th, 2011 8:23a.m.

2 lbs 1 oz.  14 inches

Andrew Bruce Holden

March 25th, 2011 8:22 a.m.

2 lbs 7 oz.  14 inches

Here's the story:
During the night I woke up a few times with minor pain...thinking I just needed to go to the bathroom. After the 3rd time at 6:00am I laid in bed wondering what this pain really was. I woke Stephen up about 20 minutes later and we decided to call the doctor. He told us to go to the hospital. As we got dressed and left for the hospital the minor pain quickly intensified and became more frequent. I was just grateful we live only 5 minutes from the American Fork Hospital. When we check in, the nurses tried to do a few tests and quickly realized I was in full labor. They rushed to call the on-call doctor and when he came in to check me he said that I was fully dialated and he could feel a little hand. His guess was my cervix totally gave up with the weight of two babies and my body decided it was done.  There was no time to transfer me to a hospital with a level 3 NICU and they wheeled me into the OR for an emergancy C-section.

I will admit both Stephen and I were scared to death wondering if our babies would even live. So within an hour of arriving at the hospital. I heard each of them cry for a short second after they were born. This was a huge relief to me.  The operating room was full of people. Each baby had probably a team of 6 or 7 nurses and doctors around them. Shortly after they were born they rushed them off to get them ready to be transferred to a higher level NICU. I got to see them for a short minute or two before they left the hospital. Everything happened so fast. It really seemed like a dream. As happy as we are to have these two boys in our lives....this was not how I had envisioned everything. I know that the next few months as they are in the NICU I will be saying that a lot. But this is our life and we have a long road ahead of us. 
The crazy thing is as we look back upon the day or the days ahead. There really was no signs we missed. Just two days before we had seen the Fetal Medicine Doctor. (This is a doctor we'd started seeing in addition to my OBGYN who specializes in "high risk" pregnancies.) The Fetal Medicine doctors/nurses are experts in multiple births and other complications in pregnancy. Each time they do a very in-depth ultrasound and according to them...'everything looks great' and 'you couldn't be doing better' They had check the amniotic fluid amounts, length of my cervix. Everything really was 'just fine'. I guess these two had a little different plan in mind. :) We have really felt the Lord's hand in all that we've been through and know that he is constantly with us.

Anyways,  here's a picture we took before they were born. Who knew this would be the last one we'd take.

 March 13th, 2011 at 25 weeks

A Birthday Weekend Get-A-Way

This is a bit late, but wanted to write a quick post. We were able to get away for the long president's day weekend. It was so much fun! We decided to head up to the cabin for a little weekend get-a-way. Stephen and I went up a day early...he told me I wasn't allowed to do anything the entire weekend since Monday was my birthday. So...I didn't and it was wonderful!  I loved spending time with just the two of us up their alone.  Stephen made me some delicious steak & mushrooms for my birthday dinner.  It was really delicious. I keep trying to convince him that he needs to show off his cooking skills more often at home. He just says I wouldn't appreciate my birthday dinners as much, if he did this on a regular basis. :)

We were able to lay around and relax.  It was so quite and beautiful. It was truly breathtaking  just looking out the windows. I loved being in the mountains with the sun shimmering off of about 4 or 5 feet of snow.

 Then most of my family came up the next day. We stayed up late chatting, laughing, and  playing games. The next day everyone had to spend sometime outside playing in the snow. It's amazing how much more snow there is up there. The trails for good sledding hills are endless when you're at the cabin. They spent over 3 hours outside playing around. Even the "big kids" got into making snow tunnels and riding the 4-wheelers. It was so wonderful to get-a-way and be able to spend my birthday with my family!

We all can get a little competitive when playing games!!!

Stephen & Jeff trying to find each other as they dig a tunnel under a mountain of snow.

Going for a ride

Gettin' ready to ride the 4-wheelers in the snow!

Capturing a smile before attempting the "hill of no return"

Most of the kids loved going down the steepest hills, but climbing back up in the deep snow was a bit tricky. :)

New Skills???

So for Christmas this year, I got a sewing machine. I've sewed a bit in the past...but I must say that I'm pretty rusty.  I've pulled it out a few times and tried to figure out how to use the new machine. I'm not too crafty of a person, although I'd like to be someday. Maybe this gift will help get me there. :) So I decided to bust out some sewing skills for Valentines Day. I found these on some website (I wish I remembered where). But it was sooo easy, with just some wax paper, red thread and candy. They turned out darling. I made some candy valentine's for my nieces and nephews. They thought it was fun to rip them open and eat the treats. They loved them so much, I attempted to make 16 of them for my kids at school. I think they turned out great! It's not much, but I would have to say that was way more crafty than I've ever been.

My Handyman

So this story goes back quite a few months...but I just had to share.

While doing our typical Saturday cleaning, our poor vacuum started smoking. After a little investigating,  we ordered some new filters and a belt. Then after weeks of waiting, they came in the mail and Stephen aka "my handyman" took the dear old vacuum apart and replaced them.  I used it only twice, before the smoke started up again. It took another month or so to figure out what was going on. But my handyman, didn't give up. Our vacuum wasn't that old and should have plenty of years still left in it...and we certainly didn't want to fork out the money for a new one. In the meantime, my floor hasn't been vacuumed in months.  I came home one day to my whole vacuum taken apart in about twenty different pieces. I was really worried. Stephen has done a lot of little projects around the house over the years...but I'll be honest, I was little worried that he wouldn't be able to put it back together, let alone fix it. On Wednesday we received a little brown package in the mail. This weekend Stephen surprised me and put a new part in the vacuum. It worked! I was so excited!!! It practically feels like I have a whole new vacuum and all thanks to "my handyman" I was so excited I vacuumed my whole house from top to bottom. I don't think Stephen realized how much I appreciated his fix-it skills, until he saw me pulling the couch apart to vacuum it. We had a good laugh.

Over Half Way There!!!

We're excited to announce that in about 4 months we'll have
two baby BOYS join our family!!! 

We had our 20 week ultrasound last week and these boys were not shy at all. In fact they were being quiet the active little fellows. We spent almost an hour in there as the ultrasound technician was trying to get all their measurements. It was so fun to seeing them be so active, rolling around and kicking. We had been anxiously awaiting this news and went to celebrate that night! Of course, I had to go get something tiny and blue...I guess two little somethings. :) Stephen thought I was over doing it a little. But went along with my excitement anyway. I keep looking at these 2 pair of booties and the realization that TWO little babies is sinking in deeper and deeper. We really have no idea all that lays ahead us, but are excited for the adventure.

This last week, as we've shared our news, we keep getting a lot of the sames questions asked. The biggest one of all, is if we've decided on names. Decided???? Do people not know me and my decision making skills. Well, to be honest we haven't really put much thought into names yet. (because we wanted to find out for sure what we're having first) But now we need to come up with TWO boy names! Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm all ears. :)

Love You..

We celebrated our 4th anniversary this month. Where has the time gone. I really don't know. I'm just grateful for many more years ahead!

With a New Year...Comes New Changes

I always love ringing in the new year and all that it has in store.
setting some new goals.
reflecting on the past year. 
a fresh new start in all areas of life.
getting organized.

As I look towards 2011 and all that it brings, a mixture of emotions comes my way... If expecting twins isn't enough change in one year. Another exciting event in the coming 2011 is Stephen's graduation from business school. With this graduation, comes reality...real life...real bills....real jobs...which we are excited to share that we have one!  YEA!!! Stephen accepted a full-time position with AT&T just before Christmas!

He has been very busy the past semester recruiting, applying, interview, traveling, and negotiating. Well, after weeks of weighing everything and much prayer, we decided to take it! Yea!!!! I'm so proud of him! We are sooo excited and sooo grateful to have a job. And to have it well before graduation...bonus for us! We thought the road would be long and hard. Just as it was last year when we were looking for an internship. Stephen's start date will be sometime in June or July...yep just about the time our new ones will join us. We're hoping these sweet ones decide to come before he starts and we have to move. This spring we'll find out exactly which head office we'll be located at and where we will be moving to. My family is incredibly sad that we'll be moving out of state shortly after the babies are born.

Although moving with 2 newborns will be challenging, we're excited that he'll be doing a rotational leadership program so we'll have the opportunity to work in a few different locations the first 3 years. So we'd better get used to packing and moving. Right?  I would lie if I didn't say that I have moments of shear  panic...when I realize everything that lies ahead for us. But in some ways,  it's exciting and we couldn't ask for more perfect timing of everything. :) I think 2011 has already proved to exciting and definitely full of change!

'Tis the Season

We would like to take a moment and wish you all a Happy New Year! We apologize for not sending Christmas Cards this year....However, we loved seeing all of your family updates and promise to be more on the ball next year.

Once again, I can't believe the Christmas season has come and gone. We've been able to have a fun-filled December, although not much was documented by pictures. Here's a few of our favorites.

Going to see Santa on the Polar Express!

I love to see the Temple!

Grandma & Grandpa with the kids

Trying to keep warm in the visitors center

Our Christmas was simply wonderful. We were able to fly out and spend about 10 days in Michigan with Stephen's family. It was incredibly colder back there! We built many fires and cuddled under blankets to stay warm. We loved spending time with them, baking yummy treats and watching fun movies. Connor (6) and Benson (4 1/2) the two oldest grandkids were the most patient kids I've ever seen on Christmas morning. They waited over and hour for everyone to get up and get ready before opening the presents under the tree. This was a great shot Stephen took of them admiring all the gifts under tree.

Our two little ones have already given us a scare!  We ended up spending about 4 1/2 hours in the ER on Christmas Eve. This was not planned and definitely not the funnest way I've spent Christmas Eve. But everything is just fine. They put me on bed rest for the week and I loved the excuse to just sit around and be lazy over my Christmas vacation. One plus with this visit is  that we got the most precious picture from the ultrasound.

 

love it!

We love you all and are so grateful for wonderful family and friends!

Our Christmas Secret!!!

Okay...so the secret is slowly leaking out. We've been anxiously waiting to tell and we wanted to show a little proof because of the looks on most people's face when we tell them that.......

we're expecting twins!!! 

Our little family of two will double in size coming this June.  We've known for about a month or so that there are actually two little ones instead of just one, and it seems as though we need to start saying something...because it's getting awfully hard to hide the little belly that is starting to show.  Here's the amazing picture from our ultrasound this last week. If you are like me these black and white images are so hard to look at. You can see one of the babies in the lower right as a profile view with it's head and little hand. The other is much harder and is in the upper left-hand side.  You can only see the top of the head, but clearly each black spot shows there are two different amniotic sacs. We were able to hear both of their heartbeats, which was amazing to see.

Here's a few answers to some of the questions we're being asked when people find out.
---No, they are not identical...hence being in two different sacs.
---Yes, twins run in my family, but coincidentally that's not how these little ones came to be. 
---No, I have not been twice as sick, THANK GOODNESS! In fact, I feel very blessed that I only have felt nauseous in the evenings and even then...not every night.  I have felt more tired than anything and want to crash almost everyday, when I get home from work.

We were able to get our Christmas wish a few months early this year!!! It's been a long hard road and many years to get to this point, but we're are sure grateful for these two little miracles that will soon bless our lives! I have a very strong testimony that Heavenly Father knows what's best for us and is very involved in our lives each day.

Merry Christmas!!!

A Season For Thanks!

As the month of November comes to a close and December is here. I have to reflect a bit on what a wonderful season this time of year is. I love how the Thanksgiving holiday, brings in the true spirit of Christmas to all our hearts.  We have so much to be thankful for and year after year I seem to appreciate a bit more the little things in life. Here's some of the little things, I'm thinking about tonight...

I'm grateful for a husband who has worked so hard the past few months. He has dived into the heart of job searching. With Stephen graduating in April (yes, I really can't believe it's coming so fast) He's hard at work looking for a full time job. From our experience last year in looking for internships, we thought the road would be the same long hard one and maybe not find anything until the spring or even summer. Well, a few weeks ago he got a job offer. He also has a few more companies where he's made the final round of interviews and is flying back next week to see if he makes the final cut. We are so thrilled to have something...a job....especially in this economy and possibly a few to choose from.

We are so blessed to have family on both sides so close to us. Both of us keep talking about how we need to do more with them, since we live so close. So we decided to take his brother and sister and two cousins up to my parents cabin for the weekend. We had a fun time up there! We were able to pull the 4-wheelers out with just a few inches of snow and play around on them. We stayed up way too late talking, laughing and watching Toy Story 3. The next day however, it took us hours to get home. We had some new snow fall over night and made for very slick conditions coming down the mountain. We saw countless cars and trucks who'd slid off the road into banks of snow or hanging off the edge. We made it out okay and glad we'd thrown in the chains for our car. Lesson learned....always say your prayers. :)

 Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. Let's just say it was almost like the first Thanksgiving, in the fact that we literally ate all day for almost 3 days straight!!! Seriously, my mom loves to always have food out and on the counter. So when it came time to eat the big turkey and mashed potatoes dinner. I honestly couldn't fill my plate too full. We loved hanging out  with everyone and got to spend time with my little brother and his family who came up from Texas. It was so fun to see them...especially since we were just there a month ago. I wish I had some pictures to show, but we didn't even pull the camera out.

Nonetheless, we truly are blessed and have seen many miracles happen in our lives. I am so grateful for the eyes to recognize them. I love the Christmas season and to be able to celebrate the birth of our savior.  It is the most wonderful time of the year.

Cheering on them Cougars!!!

 A few weeks ago, my cute niece Alina came down and we enjoyed the BYU vs Wyoming game together because Stephen was gone for the week in Chicago doing some job recruiting. We cheered them on, avoided the rain and had a great time. It was an exciting game and we're hoping that they can win a few more games like this the rest of the season.

Halloween Festivities

I'm slowly trying to catch up on all of my blogging that I've neglected the last month or two as the busy-ness of life creeps upon me. 

We had our annual family Halloween party! It was quite the party... as always. The grandkids look forward to this event every year. This year however, Stephen was in Chicago on a job recruiting trip. (Yes we are deep into the application and interview process.) So I went by myself as the all American Statue of Liberty. We had a great time chatting, making homemade doughnuts and homemade rootbeer, bobbing for apples, and eating of doughnuts on a string. Here's some of my favorite pictures from the night!

All the grandkids in costume!

Making the rootbeer

Happy Halloween!!!

The Herbst Family

Everything's Bigger in Texas

We were so excited to visit my little brother Matt and his family over fall break. Once again it was somewhat a last minute trip. (we're starting to get really good at these.) We found some awesome deals on flights and just couldn't resist seeing what Texas was all about. We had a wonderful time seeing the sights and spending time with family.  Matt and Annie showed us all of the highlights of the big town of Houston and were wonderful hosts. Both Stephen and I agreed that our favorite was just hanging out with the kids and relaxing.  Although we had a wonderful time we learned some great things about the big city of Houston.

•   It's the 4th largest city in the U.S.  (But you wouldn't realize it....there's so much land down there, it's really spread out unlike NYC) We went to a really fun park in the center of town and enjoyed walking around, having a picnic, taking a train ride and seeing the ducks.

• We learned pretty quickly that everything is bigger in Texas. Our first morning there we went to a natural preserve where we could see alligators in the wild. Unfortunately we didn't see too many alligators, but we saw plenty of other gigantic wildlife which would include mostly huge spiders, ants and snakes. The longhorn cattle was also pretty awesome to see just a bunch of them grazing in a field as you'd drive by. (I really felt like we were in the deep in the heart of Texas when we saw those.) We wanted to see an armadillo while there, but never got the chance. :)  
• We loved cheering on our niece Kayla in her soccer games. With Matt being the team's coach, we were able to go to both her practice and game that week. We loved seeing her get so excited and run after the ball. I loved watching the mass of 4 year olds running with the ball and kicking it in every direction. It was especially great to see them get so excited even when they made a score in the wrong goal. 

• They definitely know how to do BBQ. Matt took us to their favorite BBQ place in town and it was simply delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. :) I was amazed at all the wild animals hanging on the wall...especially the wild boar. 

• "Houston" was the first word that Neil Armstrong spoke when he landed on the moon. We were able to visit the NASA space center. We just happened upon seeing the "Saturn V" space shuttle on our way to some other sights. It was really a neat sight to see and I couldn't believe how big everything was. They actually had to build the building around the space shuttle. It was fun to see the actual space center and how huge the complex is.

•  The Gulf of Mexico can be a beautiful sight. We were able to visit the Kemah Boardwalk, right off of the shore and saw lots of fishing and sailing boats in the ocean. It was really a wonderful sight. It's a fun little place with rides and shopping. Matt was telling us how hard this place was hit with hurricane Ike a few years back. With boats being carried a few miles from the shore.  It's incredible how much it's been rebuilt. Kayla and I enjoyed eating a messy funnel cake while Stephen and Matt took a ride on the daring roller coaster.

Texas has beautiful weather... at least this time of year. We had amazing weather in the 80's with low humidity. Yeah, we know that it wasn't their usual fall temperature or humidity. But we enjoyed every minute of it, with it being in the 60's on here in Utah. 

Freeky Friday Night

So just for the record...Tarantulas live in Utah.....right close to our house. Stephen and I decided to go for a little fall hike up to the "G" in Pleasant Grove. It was a warm fall Friday afternoon a few weeks ago and we headed up the mountain. We had just started out on the trail, when I came so close to stepping on this!

I couldn't believe it! I jumped and screamed. Then when Stephen saw it he jumped and screamed. After we realized what it was, we were very fascinated by how gigantic this wild spider was. Yes, I hate spiders and little ones I can step on and kill. But how would you get rid of this huge thing? It was roughly the size of a doughnut. I shudder at the very thought.

End of Summer Happenings

I feel like it's been forever since I've had time to sit down at my computer for more than a minute or two. So we'll attempt to update our blog...We'll see how it goes.  Both Stephen and I have gone non-stop the past 3 or 4 weeks.

A Last Minute Trip

With a week left before I started back to school, Stephen got on his spontaneous kick again and we decided to do a last minute road trip to Michigan. One of my cousins asked "who goes on a last minute trip to Michigan?" Answer: We do. Stephen's recovery from his surgery was faster than expected and he felt up to it.  So we packed out bags, were in the car in less than 5 hours and headed out on the 29 hour drive to Midland. It was great little get-a-way and we loved spending time with family we don't see but once a year or so. To sum it all up in a few short sentences.

• We had the most surprised looks I've ever seen on his family's face (that's right we decided it would be more fun not to tell them we were coming!) 
• We got to see our new niece Eva and new nephew Austin for the first time.
• I went fishing with all the boys in the family. We caught some big ones....and have the pictures to prove it. :)

That's right...there's our big one!

• Spent a day kayaking on the Chippewa river and saw hundreds of turtles. We spent most of our time trying to catch them and letting them crawl around in our kayaks.

• Relaxed, laughed and played lots of games with the family. Nothing beats a competitive game of Dominoes.
• Went to the local zoo and saw lots of animals

Just couldn't resist posting this lovely shot!

• Stephen was able to rebuild his old glider airplane and we took it on a test run. It was fun to see him get so excited. 

• Realized that road trips aren't so bad...especially if you get to stop and see the sights along the way. 

Made a quick stop at Lake Michigan on our way home and got our feet wet.

Camping with the Holden's

Roasting some marshmallow :)

We decided to do a 2nd annual camping trip with the Holden's that are out here in Utah. It was so much fun. We roped in Stephen's cousin, her husband and 1-year boy to come along this year. We had a great time setting up tents in the dark, sitting around the fire cooking tinfoil dinners,  roasting marshmallows and making smores, being creative with no bathrooms for miles around and sleeping on a deflated air mattress all night long. It doesn't get any better than that! 

James and Erin warming up by the fire!

Cheering on the Cougars
BYU had it's first football game of the season and we were able to go. Well....I'll be honest with it being Stephen's last year, we caved and got season tickets. So we'll be cheering the cougars on all season long. Waaahoooo.  It was a great game and were able to have my parents come down and go with us. It was such a blast!

Back to the Grind
Although it's towards the end of September, I still have to convince myself that summer is over. Stephen's started back into his second year in the MBA program. We're hoping that this year isn't so intense as the first (at least that's what we've been told.) He's already on the hunt for full time jobs. He has been applying to jobs like crazy. We've both decided that looking for a job is almost 6 credit class in and of itself. He's loving the MBA and we are so grateful for this opportunity. He is like a sponge and just soaking up all the info from his classes. We won't know what to do with ourselves when he graduates this spring.
I also started back into the school mode. It's been a good year so far. I have a lot more kids this year in my class, which means I have more aides.  I think that the large number of kiddos is going to be my biggest challenge this year. (which is saying a lot for special ed. I don't have any big behavior challenges or crazy parents....at least as of yet...) I love everyone of them and they are such a fun group of kids.  I'm really enjoy the year so far. It's crazy to think we've been back at it for over a month.