November 30, 4 years ago...

... Nick and I had our first date. It was the most amazing first date in the world and lasted all day. I can't remember if that was intentional since we did have the YSA dance that night.

We started about 9 in the morning by going up to Monte Sano to walk around on one of the trails up there. It was an amazingly gorgeous day and both Nick and I kept saying that it was more like a day in September back "home" (Utah for me and Idaho for Nick), than the day before December. We walked around the trail, climbed on some big rocks and talked and talked for a few hours. As we were heading back to the car, we stopped to see some terrific view and Nick stopped behind me and put his arms around me and I thought that it felt like we had done this sort of thing before. (Aww)

We then headed to Olive Garden for lunch and did the soup and salad deal. We still love doing that and in fact the second time we went there after our first date (which happened to be after we were married), we sat in the very same booth. I have such a silly smile on my face remembering that. :)

Then off to the movie theater to watch the Disney movie Enchanted. Its a really cute movie and Nick and I were really enjoying it but we both just about died laughing when the Prince and Giselle are on their date and he asks how long a date lasts and she says "They can go as long as you want, really. They can just keep going and going, just so long as you keep thinking about activities that you can do", since that was essentially what we were doing since we were going to the dance that night.

We then went to my parent's house so we could change for the dance as it was 'church dress'. We grabbed a quick bite of mac&cheese and while eating my sisters got into a silly fight which culminated in one sister throwing her phone at the other which hit the other sister's bowl of dinner just right to fling mac&cheese all over her. As she was sitting on the couch covered in her dinner, she couldn't really move so Nick very kindly helped to clean her up. I thought that was really sweet of him considering he'd never met her.

Finally on to the YSA dance. I actually don't remember too many details about the dance. We did get a little bored at one point and went exploring because I had never been in the Cullman building. There was a cute little half basement but we didn't stay there long because it was the scouts room and smelled like teenage boy BO. (lol) There was a point when I was dancing with Taylor and he was saying something about leaving because there were no worthwhile girls there to dance with. Of course I smacked him a little and he said "Well you're taken". I was like "I'm taken? This is only my first date with Nick". He really was right though :)

Nick took me home and of course we had our first kiss. It was the most amazing kiss. I stopped breathing and heard bells and whistles and saw stars (maybe cause I wasn't breathing)   :)  Everyday we spent together after that just affirmed that we were meant to be together.

Love you honey! Even though we have our downs, I'm still very happy that we finally went out together :)

16 things for today

1. Even though all of Monday and Tuesday morning was really, really rough, I'm very happy that I have Nick as my husband. Thanks honey for all the sacrifices you are making to go to school.
2. I have an appointment to get my wisdom teeth out on the 6th on January. I'm a little nervous since I've never (knock on wood) had anything medical happen to me before. Not even stitches.
3. I think its so cute that my son loves to watch Into The Woods right now. For those not familiar, its a Broadway musical and I love it.
4. Went to a dress rehearsal of Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare last night with Nick and had so much fun. I really like Shakespeare's comedies.
5. I'm glad Nick took theater this semester cause I get to go plays. I love going to plays.
6. Kaleb just gave me all the broken crackers and kept the whole ones for himself. He cracks me up.
7. I have serious van envy right now. And not just any van either. I want an 8 passenger Toyota Sienna '06 or newer.
8. Some days I do better at my load of laundry a day then others. Today I still need to put it in the dryer.
9. I always fast-forward through the 'trading insults' part of The Sandlot. I don't think my kids need to pick up those kinds of things for a long time.
10. I absolutely love the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books!
11. Nick set up a web camera at work and so now we can Skype with him. Kaleb loves to see Daddy at work and even Jay talks up a storm when he sees Daddy.
12. I'm really excited about the big family gift that Nick's mom is getting us for Christmas.
13. Kaleb is really into the 'I do it' phase of getting dressed.
14. Some days you need a lot of chocolate fortification.
15. Trying to curb Jay's biting has been an ongoing, difficult thing. This is only so much you can do to a 10 month old.
16. I really dislike the fact that it gets dark at 5 now.

Cool and random LDS finds

So a couple of days ago I was reading some of the Momformation blogs off of Babycenter, when I came across this cute post about family costume ideas. It totally caught my attention cause that is what we are trying to do this year. As I was reading, one the ideas the blog used was from another Kendra. Of course I went to see what her blog was and as I was checking it out, I had the feeling that she was LDS though I hadn't yet read anything to confirm that. In fact just looking at her picture for the costumes gave me that impression. I quickly got distracted by her awesome Halloween stuff and found her on Pinterest here. I have spent a lot of time today (when not cleaning Nick!) perusing her Halloween board and only just barely decided to look at her other boards and low and behold I find one entitled LDS. It was kind of exciting to find out that my impressions about her were right and that you can find so much good on the internet. So you never know where you will run into members of The Church.  :)

Food!

I just wanted to tell everyone that I love corn on the cob! And Dr Pepper! And fresh coconut! I must be really hungry right now cause all I can think about are my favorite foods. Extra sharp chedder cheese, raspberries, french toast, ham and pineapple pizza, shrimp, asparagus, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, Mom's Hurry Curry, Razzelberry pie,... oh the list could go on for quite a while.

Some Things

1. A few weeks ago we found The Sandlot at a yard sale. We watched it that Sunday and Kaleb found the new love of his life. He asks to watch it every day. "Ball, ball" he comes running up to me all excited every day wanting to watch it. Sometimes I can get him to say Bay Ball, but not very often. I could write a huge post about it but I have a ton of other thoughts I want to get out.
2. Jay is like a turtle lately. Every time I put him down on his back he immediately wants to flip over on to his stomach, which make changing his diaper just a little challenging.
3. I've been trying to be better about my sacrificial produce (the fruits and veggies you buy with good intentions and then go bad in your fridge) but to my horror, I found some moldy raspberries. Such sadness! So I planted them as an experiment. LOL
4. A ton of other thoughts huh? as I sit here stuck on number 4.
5. Yesterday Jay had two baths because of some food incidents and Nick and I noticed that when he is in there all by himself, he actually sits in the tub, whereas when he take a bath with Kaleb, he is always standing.
6. I sometimes miss knowing all the grammar and punctuation rules.
7. I LOVE my clothesline.
8. I LOVE Olive Garden.
9. AHHH, its the 10th of October and I don't know what I'm doing for the boys' costumes.
10. Lastly cause I wanted to put a picture in last, my AMAZING husband made me a wonderful dinner last night. For some reason I HAD to take a picture to share, so here it is.

Yesterday at the Duck Pond

We were able to go over to the Duck Pond near the college while we waited for Nick to finish his class. I wasn't entirely prepared because I forgot to bring something to feed the ducks but fortunately there was a couple there who shared their crackers with Kaleb (probably cause he's so cute!). We started in the grass trying to get the ducks to eat and made our way down to the water mostly because Kaleb was chasing them into the water. He seemed to think that all the ducks belonged in the water and if one ran back toward the trees, he would yell at it and point to the water.

As we were trying to get the ducks to eat the crackers in the water, some turtles (red-ear sliders) started to appear and eat the crackers. So we went from trying to feed ducks to feeding turtles. More and more kept appearing until I counted and came up with at least 12. They were all about the size of a flat soccer ball. Their shells were all mossy and they kept poking their heads out to look at us. Then there were two little ones about the size of hamburger patties that were just the cutest little things. We were having so much fun feeding the turtles and Kaleb was really excited to see them. Then, in the middle of this swarm of turtles, this huge head of a snapping turtle appeared and started to try and get the crackers. He was the biggest turtle I have ever seen that hasn't been in a zoo. His head was the size of softball and I don't even know what to compare his shell to. I don't know if Kaleb saw him cause the sun was glinting off the water about where he was, but I was quite excited.

Kaleb really likes ducks ever since we visited Grandpa and Grandma Huskinson and is one of the few words he will say. I'm really glad that we decided to go over to the pond and now I really want to go back again this time with a camera and the sun in a different place!

15 Things for August 15

1. I'm sort of using this idea from my cousin-in-law, except she does 13 things every Thursday.
2. Yesterday when we picked up Kaleb from nursery, the ladies said "Don't mind the scratches on his face. He and Bre Bre where fighting every five minutes." My son sure knows how to pick a girlfriend.
3. I'm glad that my husband is trying to better himself by going to school, but hate the fact that now he is never going to be home.
4. If you leave How to Train Your Dragon running after the credits, it starts all over again after a certain amount of time so we end up watching it a lot more then I want to. I only really want to watch it once a day.
5. I really want to play with my Legos.
6. Yesterday was my Mother-in-law's, cousin's, and two friend's birthdays. Happy Birthday Gloria, Hayley, Jenny, and Clarissa.
7. I don't like not having a peephole in my front door.
8. My birthday is on Friday which is the same day of the week I was born on :)
9. My husband made this amazing bean meal thing for dinner last night. It had black-eyed peas and rice and cooked green peppers and tomatoes and lime juice and other flavors that made it so incredibly delicious.
10. I really love having cold cereal for breakfast. In fact if I don't start my day that way, everything feels off.
11. Jay is teething a lot lately and wants to bite my shoulder every time I'm holding him and even left a bruise when he bit me on Friday.
12. Now that the last Harry Potter movie came out, Nick and I are finally reading the books together. He wouldn't read them before the movies were done cause he didn't want to spoil them.
13. I love my recycle bin.
14. The dishes are my least favorite chore.
15. You really can do tons in only 15 minutes. Set the timer if you don't believe me.