Thirteen years

This post is a little late...but I wanted to share my thoughts anyway. So here goes:

Kevin and I celebrated our thirteenth anniversary on the 26th of April! It is so hard to believe it has been that long that we have been married! I would not have thought 13 years ago when I was helping Kevin move pipe on the BYU-Idaho farm that time would find us where we are today.

We have lived in 10 different homes/apartments, 5 different states and one foreign country.

How we met:

I was starting college at BYU-Idaho (then Ricks College). One night before the semester even started I ran into a good friend of mine from high school, Brad. He introduced me to his roommate Kevin. Kevin said, "Brad, your right she is beautiful." I laughed a little uncomfortably because I knew that was FOR SURE a pick up line. I didn't really want to give much attention to the comment because I was interested in a guy at the time. Brad invited me over to their apartment a few days later and I accepted the invite.

Well, a few days later I went over to the apartment and was talking with Brad and Brian (both were friends from high school) when Kevin walked in. He had been out in the potato fields all day and was dirty and smelled horrible. He walked up to me and asked me when I was gonna go out with him. I really didn't know how to respond and thought I was calling his bluff when I said, "well, when you ask me." (I thought for sure he was all talk) He then said, "how about tomorrow night?" I was shocked that we was so quick with his comeback, but accepted.

The next day I received a phone call from Kevin saying he forgot about a lab he had and couldn't go out. I thought he was just being a player and flirt but he asked if I could go the next night. Well, I said sure. (Please don't get me wrong...it wasn't that I didn't want to go out with him...like I said, I had my sights on another guy and my brain was preoccupied with him).

Kevin didn't call and cancel the next day, so he picked me up and we went out for ice cream at a place called Mill Hollow. I had a great time. Kevin made me laugh and made me feel like I could do anything. We were at Mill Hollow for hours it seemed. I really enjoyed his company.

To make a long story short, Kevin kept asking me out on dates and I kept accepting. In November, I was supposed to leave for the weekend to attend a Business Professionals convention. Kevin kept telling me that I couldn't go to the convention. He had wanted to take me hiking to a fun place we had been before. He said it was gonna snow soon and this was our last chance to go. I called my advisor and got out of going to the convention and told her I would write a report instead. She was fine with that. About an hour later Kevin picked me up in his friends truck. We went hiking and the whole time I couldn't figure out why Kevin seemed like he was in such a hurry. Well, we got to our mid-point which was at some old homestead cabins. Kevin said he needed to go to the bathroom, so I went inside the cabin while he "did his business". He came back into the cabin a few seconds later and got down on his knee and asked me if I would marry him. I was so surprised and happily said "YES"!

We were married in April in the Idaho Falls, Idaho temple.

I still enjoy Kevin's company and his sense of humor! Life has sure taken us for a ride and some of it has been bumpy, but we have pulled through. I can truly say those bumpy times have made us stronger in our marriage. Whenever our life gets stressful, which I feel this last year has been, I think of all that we have been through and know that we will keep making it through! Even now, as Kevin is gone for a month for his pediatric service, I know we will make it through and that the distance will make our hearts grow fonder! I am so thankful for the thirteen years we have had! I can't wait to experience what life has in store for us in the coming years, especially with my best friend by my side!

Wonderful, White Weekend

My philosophy of winter is this...if it is gonna be cold, there better be enough snow to have fun in! Luckily, this weekend we finally got dumped on with snow and lot of it! Yippee!! It seems like since we have moved to Casper I am always hearing how cold it is and how much people hate the winters here. Winter here does not seem much different from what I remember growing up with in Idaho. The wind was a problem there as much as here...from what I remember. I guess Heavenly Father knew I wasn't gonna live in a warm place for my whole life. (Yes, I do miss Grenada and the wonderful beach:)) With all of that said...I love the snow and was happy to see it falling!

Kevin has had a horrible call schedule and we have been trying to treasure every minute we can spend with him. Saturday was his day "off" this week, so after he did his rounds on patients at the hospital and worked at the wresting match for a little bit, we took the kids up Casper Mountain to go cross country skiing. It was so much fun! Kolbi got to ride in a backpack on Kevin's back. It was Kyle and Kambria's first time and I think they had a great time!

Unfortunately, after Kambria had been skiing for about 1/2 hour her boot kept coming undone and she couldn't keep it on. I stayed back with her and tried to help her boot situation, but the velcro just would not stay. So, Kambria and I skiied back to the lodge. We waited there for the rest of the family to return.

When they got back to the lodge, Kolbi was ready to get warm. She was a great sport and did wonderful. It was so much fun spending time together and doing something to celebrate the snow! The kids have been watching the Olympics lately and when they were done skiing, Kyle and Kaylee said they felt like they could be Olympians! :) Gotta love their confidence!!

Grand Pumba!!!

In one of my last posts, I put a picture of Kyle with his science project. Well, we got the results a couple of weeks ago. Kyle got 1st place in his class and he got the Grand Prize (or as the kids call it, "Grand Pumba") out of all of the fourth grade! We are so proud of him and how hard he works at everything he does. He is such a fun kid! He has had a few problems with some of his friends being mean lately, and it has been rewarding to see him rise above it and not be mean back and to try to branch out to other kids that will build him up.

He is doing GREAT in school and we get wonderful reports from his teacher! It is so nice to know he is making good decisions and becoming a trustworthy young man! We are proud of him and his example!

On the blog again!

I am on the blog again! So hang on...I posted quite a few update posts. They date from the present back to the beginning of October. Hoping to stay on top of the blog better in 2010! Enjoy!

Losing some and gaining some!

Kaylee has finally lost her two front teeth. She lost one right before Christmas and then finally lost the other one two days ago. She is having a hard time finding things she can eat without them, but being a good sport about it. Her baby teeth were so tiny it will be interesting to see how big her permanent teeth will be and how it will change her looks.


We have been waiting and waiting for Kolbi to get some teeth. Finally in the last month she has started to get them. The unfortunate part is she is getting four all at once. She is getting her two front teeth and two molars. She has still been a good baby through it all. I had a hard time getting her to smile just the right way to take a picture of them. The other day when I got her out of the bath, she kept giggling while I was getting her dressed...so therefore a great shot of the incoming teeth! YIPPEE!

The next two pictures are just because they are SO Kolbi. She is such a happy girl and fun to have around! Her personality is so cute and she is truly adored by her family.

THE MELTANATOR

January is science fair time! Kyle has had the opportunity to work on his science fair project the last couple of weeks. His experiment was titled, "The Meltanator". During the time he was trying to decide what to do his experiment on, Kevin's mom fell on some ice and broke her ankle. This made Kyle do some thinking and he said he wanted to find out how to melt ice so nobody else would get hurt. (What a thoughtful boy!) So, he decided to do his experiment on, "What melts ice the fastest: mineral rock salt, sand or cat litter?"

He worked very hard to make sure his experiment was done right and was very concise in his measurements. In the end he found that mineral rock salt will melt ice twice as fast as sand or cat litter. Part of his conclusion statement said, "In the cold winter months when you want to melt the ice on your driveway, stock up on mineral rock salt and throw away the sand and cat litter."

We are very proud of the hard work he put into his experiment and also into his board!

New Year's Eve in Washington

The day after Christmas we drove from Shelley to Richland, Washington to spend the rest of the holidays with Kevin's family. The weather was wonderful and we had a great drive there. We were able to spend almost a week there. The weather was predicted to be nice. A couple days after we had been there, it snowed. Not a lot, but enough to have snow in the parking lots.

Grandpa Ross got up early one morning and headed to the auto shop to get some innertubes. He was so excited to take the kids tubing behind the car in the church parking lot. He tied two tubes to the back of the car and pulled us all around. At first Kevin went with the kids, but after he kept pushing them off, they only wanted to ride with Mom. It was really fun and I think it will be a memory the kids will not forget anytime soon.

Kaylee getting ready on one tube and then Kyle and Kambria on the other.

Kambria would giggle the whole time she was sledding!

On New Year's Eve Kevin's sisters (Kim and Kaelynn) and their families came over to Wayne and Dianne's to celebrate. We had scrumptious food (alot of it) and watched funniest videos on TV. It was wonderful to hear everyone laugh and to see the kids play with their cousins. Everyone stayed awake until the new year except for Kolbi. After the ball dropped the kids got pot lids and went outside to bang them on the front porch. We are all hoping for a great 2010!!

Thank you to all of the family for letting us visit during the holidays! We had a wonderful time and love you all!!