One Month

I can't believe that it's already been a month since Asher was born. It has gone by so fast, but at the same time, some days have felt like an eternity! We are still getting the hang of being parents, but we love our little guy and are grateful to have him in our family. Here are a few things that I want to remember about Asher so far. . .

- At his 2 week appointment he was 8 lbs 5 oz (somewhere in the 40th percentile I think), 21.5 inches (somewhere in the 70th percentile) and his head circumference was 14 cm (30th percentile).

- He is still in newborn diapers, but he's had a couple of blowouts recently so I think we are going to be moving up to size 1 pretty soon.

- He only fit into NB sized clothes for the first couple of weeks. Some of our 0-3 month onsies are getting a little small too because he is so long.

- He slept in our room for about a week and then we kicked him out to the nursery because he kept grunting and moving around so much in his sleep!

- He does pretty well sleeping in his crib although some naps are hit and miss depending on what kind of mood he is in. He seems to want to be awake for long stretches after he gets up in the morning and then in the late afternoon before bedtime. We are borrowing a baby swing from a friend and he sleeps really well in there, like 3 hr stretches sometimes!

- Right now he eats about 4 oz every three hours.

- He loves sucking on his binkie. . . We are currently practicing putting him to sleep without it though because he wakes up if he loses it after he falls asleep. I have a love/hate relationship with the bink at the moment!

- He is still getting used to his carseat. He screams if the car isn't moving, but if we are out for long enough, he eventually falls asleep.

- He is a pretty content baby for the most part. He usually only cries if he's hungry or when he's being a pill and trying to fight falling asleep.

- So far his only nickname is "Ashy" which our nephew Drake calls him. Jared and I usually just call him "Son" or "Sonny Son" something along those lines. I'm sure my family will come up with a few more at some point, they nickname everyone!

- He grunts alot, but the past few days he's made some pretty cute cooing sounds.

- I think he is going to be long and lean like his daddy, but we've noticed that his arms and thighs have started getting a little more chunky. His cheeks are filling in a bit as well.

- He is currently sporting a pretty awesome old main hairline. He's lost the really fine hair around the crown of his head, but he's still rocking a pretty sweet mullet in the back!

- He likes to be held, but he's also content to just hang out by himself on a blanket. He loves moving around, we call it "wiggle work" time.

- He doesn't particularly like being swaddled. He'd prefer it if we left at least one arm out of it, but then he ends up jacking himself in the face so we are mean and wrap him tight like a burrito!

- He's got super long finger nails and has scratched himself several times already. I've cut his nails once, but I'm nervous to keep doing it because I don't want to cut his skin.

And now for the picture overload for my mom. . .

Asher Reed Gibbons

Even though Asher has only been home a week, I decided to write everything down quickly so that I wouldn't forget the details. I was pretty miserable the whole month of August leading up to having the babe. I kept having Braxton Hicks contractions which would often come every few minutes apart for a couple of hours. It was super annoying and frustrating because they didn't hurt super bad but I could definitely tell they were contractions, so I thought if they were that close together that maybe something was happening down there. We actually ended up going to the hospital a week before I delivered because I had contractions 2-3 min apart for about 3 hours. I was already 3 cm dilated at that point, but I didn't progress while we were at the hospital so the nurse sent me home and said don't come back until I couldn't breathe through the contractions. I wanted to punch her in the face because that kind of description is super subjective to every person and still didn't help me know what to really expect!

Anyway, after the longest week of my life, I woke up around 5 am Monday morning (August 19th) to a bad contraction along with cramping. I got up to go to the bathroom and immediately the contractions started coming 2.5 - 3 min apart with painful cramping. I was pretty sure this was finally the real thing so I woke up Jared. I told myself I would give it an hour before heading to the hospital because I didn't want to get sent home again. By the end of that hour the contractions only got more intense so I headed downstairs where Jared was in the middle of breakfast. I think I said something like, "Eat faster, we gotta go!" so he started running around getting stuff to the car, it was kind of funny now that I think back about it, even though at the time I wanted to break my belly off!

The drive to the hospital was only about 15 minutes, but each contraction felt like cutting knives on the inside. By the time we walked into labor and delivery I was bent over and really couldn't function during each contraction. One of the nurses at the desk asked me if my water had broken, because according to my face, it "looked like I was in alot of pain." I replied, "Nope it just hurts like hell!" They got me into a triage room quickly after that and a nurse there checked me. I was almost to 5 cm and 100% effaced so I finally got admitted. I could have kissed that woman! I called my mom to tell her to start driving and went my merry (not) way.

Once I was in the delivery room, my nurse Aneisa came in (love her!) and got everything ready for the epidural. She gave me something to take the edge off the pain since the anestheiologst was about 30 min out from getting there. The drugs made me a little high so by the time the doctor got there, I was a pretty out of it, which I don't mind because I really didn't feel any part of the epidural being put in. A half hour later I was feeling pretty good.

Since my OB was out of the country on vacation, I knew I was going to have another OB from the same clinic instead. She swung by about an hour later to check me. She seemed pretty cool and Jared noticed that she had a stud ring in her tongue which made her that much cooler in my book! I hadn't progressed at all during that hour, so she broke my water and told me that the baby's head was down but that his face was up (looking toward heaven), so they needed to do these positioning tricks to see if he would roll over on his own. Aneisa got me through the different positions ("high sims" or something like that, I can't remember the name) which lasted about an hour and a half. At the end of that she checked me again and the baby had turned on his own, like a champ, and I was already at 7 cm!

Once she announced that, it was a little crazy in our room for the next 15 minutes or so. A couple nurses came in to get the internal fetal monitor set up, a CNA came in and got a bunch of Grey's Anatomy type instruments ready, Aneisa was in and out doing whatever she was doing. I seriously thought I was about to start pushing in like 30 minutes and it freaked me out because I was not ready! I figured I would be in labor for a really long time since it was my first, and I haven't heard of any 1st time mom getting an epirdural without having to get Pitocin to speed things up. When I realized I still had a little ways to go I relaxed and eventually everybody left the room. My mom and sister got there about 15 min later and we all just hung out for another hour or so until I was at a nine and ready to get the show on the road.

The only thing I didn't like about the epidural was not being able to really know how to push effectively. It took 15 min or so to figure out how and where to focus the effort (for lack of a better way to describe it) and then the doctor came because the little dude was ready to come. Everybody kept saying "Oh it looks like he's got lots of dark hair" but I was completely out of it and trying to recover from the feeling of popping my head off every 2 minutes! The whole experience was a little out of body for me. I could mentally comprehend that I was bringing a child to earth but at the same time I couldn't believe what was physically happening, I remember saying once between contractions, "I can't believe I am pushing a child out of my crotch!!" which made everybody laugh. Two pushes later and Asher arrived! He was 8 lbs even and 20 inches long. Everybody kept saying how long his eyelashes were, which was pretty inevitable considering Jared and I both have freakishly long lashes. Overall, I labored from 5 am to 2:30 pm.

It was an incredibly emotional and humbling experience to hold him for the first time and know that he was here and he was our son. Even though there were other people in the room, it seemed like it was just the three of us. After he was checked out, we did skin to skin and it was the best 30 min of our lives. He was so alert and just stared at us, he didn't make a peep. The rest of the day and night were a blur of family visits and vital sign checks. The next day we just spent time together and got ready to come home since my recovery was going well.

Now we are home and we couldn't be happier. He has been a good little boy so far, pretty laid back, although we don't have much to compare it to. I'm sure things will get harder once he starts getting bigger, but I will enjoy this time together for now and try not to think about all the craziness in store in the very near future!

Coming home

Meeting cousins

This was right before he peed on Jared haha!

He's got the biggest hands!

Hey

Best daddy

Meeting Nipes and Lissa for the first time

Milk drunk

First nap in the crib

Haha, what happens when Mom 

rubs lotion in his hair

He loves his big cousin

Just come out already!

Now that I have experienced pregnancy, I realize why people like to question how a pregnant lady may be feeling, but it makes me wonder what people actually expect to hear in response to that question. So in case you are want to know, today I am sick of being optimistic and saying, "oh yeah, I feel pretty good overall, can't complain too much," because honestly, the past couple of weeks have been crappy and I am not looking forward to a couple more weeks of this shit! Thus I've complied a list of reasons, in no particular order, why our baby needs to make his appearance into this world asap.

Disclaimer: Unless you are somewhere between 37-40 weeks pregnant, any kind words of encouragement will be ignored entirely on my part. In reality, I know that I'll be happy once the little dude gets here and pregnancy/birth is a miracle blah blah blah, but right now I don't want to hear it unless you are feeling the same pain as me :)  Also, this is just me venting, please take it with a grain of salt and feel free to laugh a little at me being overly dramatic!


1) I've decided the whole pregnancy metaphor "you have a basketball shoved in your belly" is inaccurate. People, a basketball is full of air, it weighs like 2 lbs. My baby is a solid, 7+ pound, mass that is always pushing on my insides. Everyone has constantly mentioned how small I look considering how far along I am. Well too bad this baby isn't proportionally as small as my belly, he is huge and measuring a week early! Which brings me to my next two points. . .

2) He has nowhere else to go right now, so when he wants to move or stretch out, my ribs, stomach, bladder etc. are the victims of his boney extremities. The constant sucker punches to my crotch are getting really old. The kid must know exactly where to hit me to maximize the pain (he brought tears to my eyes last night with one well placed punch down south).

3) I can't remember what it feels like to sit comfortably in an upright position. Sitting in church is a freaking joke these days, driving is just as laughable and even our soft couch is rough. I can barely breathe because the little stinker's back and butt is shoved so far up into my ribs. I probably look real funny sitting in Sunday School every week trying to push my stomach down so I don't suffocate!

4) Oh to be able to sleep on my stomach again. It will be a glorious day when I'm not tossing and turning for a half hour or more trying to get into a comfortable position before I drift off to sleep.

5) An equally glorious non-pregnant day will be free of approximately 97 trips to the bathroom!

6) Speaking of trips to the bathroom, supposedly pregnancy has made me slightly anemic, so my OB told me I have to start taking iron supplements. Well unfortunately taking all that iron makes me constipated. . . enough said right there!

7) My lower back and pelvic region are the bane of my existence right now, not to mention I feel like I have pulled muscles in places I didn't even know had muscles (such as my crotch, what the hell is up with that?!)

8) I can't remember the last time that I went to sleep without a stuffy nose. I had no clue that pregnancy causes some women to become congested, and it's seriously the pits!

9) I'm so sick of thinking about labor and wondering when it will happen. My stomach feels rock solid half of the time already, so I don't even know what the heck to expect from the real thing. People have said, "Oh you'll know for sure when they are real contractions," ha, whole lot of good that does me now considering that answer does not provide any descriptions as to what "real contractions" feel like, ya dummies! I just want my water to break so I can go straight to the hospital and not even worry about timing contractions and all that crap.

10)  And last but not least, it will be nice when he gets here and we'll get to hold him, give him a name and love on him. . . and he won't be kicking the crap out of me anymore!

Well that's about it, stay tuned for my next list of "Reasons why I was a complete idiot to think I could take care of a helpless newborn baby" because I'm sure I'll freaking out here in the next few weeks!

Baby (and other) Updates

Well, I've received a few complaints the past couple of weeks that I haven't done a good job updating the blog, so I thought I'd throw a post together today. Jared and I are back in SLC and things are good so far. We are living in a townhome in Sandy, and we really love the location, it's close to everything! For those of you who are wondering (which is basically every single person that we talk to these days), Jared is liking his job here 100,000,000 etc. times better than Trek, so no need to worry about that anymore. He's currently working on a project for a big client that should take up most of his time until our baby comes in August. He's done some really cool stuff with it so far, and once the rebrand goes public, I'm sure he'll post some pictures on his website for people to see.

My days are pretty much up in the air most of the time. I work from home on a research project I started during graduate school and have continued doing the past few years. I only spend a couple hours on it each morning though. Other than that, I run errands, hang out with my sister and my friend Dana a couple times a week, make dinner, play piano etc. It's nice to not be working full-time right now, but I am getting a little stir crazy here. Luckily the pool in our complex opens next week, I will probably be found there most afternoons now :) 

That's us in a nutshell. I'm feeling good and baby is doing good too. He kicks quite a bit and lands the occasional one to my ribs, which doesn't feel so great, but other than that he has been pretty nice to me I guess.  Here are some pictures of the "baby tum," sorry if you've seen some of them already on instagram!

13 Weeks

17 Weeks

23 Weeks

26 Weeks

I saw this pregnancy question thingy and thought it would be fun to fill out since I like reading the ones my friends have done in the past. 

How did you find out you were pregnant?  I took a home pregnancy test.

What kind of Pregnancy test did you take?  I don't remember, maybe 1st Response or something.

How many?  I took two

What were your first symptoms?  I remember feeling a little queasy for a couple of nights in a row, but I waited until I was a few days late to take a test.

Who did you tell first?  Jared was there, and then after that it was a few friends in Wisconsin because we wanted to wait to tell our families in person.

Who was with you when you found out?  I got home kind of late from a girl's night but Jared was still awake and I needed to go to the bathroom, so I thought, "what the heck, might as well try it out and see," so it was just the two of us at our apartment. 

First reaction:  We were really excited and happy. I had it in the back of my mind that I was pregnant, but I didn't want to get my hopes up too high, so when we saw the positive sign we were just happy. 

Was your baby planned?  Yep.

When was the baby conceived?  Um. . . I don't know for sure, but sometime around Thanksgiving.

How far were you when you found out?  I was probably around 5 weeks or so.

How did your parents react?  Both of our parents and families were really excited. We surprised them with the news over Christmas. 

Due Date:  August 20th, 2013

Do you know the sex?  A little boy

Any names?  We have a few in mind that we like, (Parker, Liam and Graham) but we probably won't make a decision until we see him, and our preferences could change before then anyway!

Any Ultrasounds?  We had one around 11 weeks and then 17 weeks to find out the gender. We also did the 20 week ultra sound and everything looked good, so we are grateful he is growing healthy and strong so far.

Have you heard the heart beat?  Yep, at every doctor's appointment.

Who do you think it will look like? I wouldn't have a clue, we both have brown hair and green eyes, so it would be fun if he had the same.  

Have you felt the baby move?  Every day. It was weird because I didn't know what it felt like at first, but then he sucker punched me pretty good a few times so then I knew what it was like. He now keeps up a constant flow of acrobatics in there.

Did you have morning sickness?  Honestly, not really. It was actually the worst when we were in Utah over Christmas for a couple of weeks, and even then, it wasn't too bad. I know, I'm lucky!

Have you had any cravings?  Not too many so far. Most random ones have been tuna fish (don't worry, I only eat it every once in a while, I'm not going to OD with the mercury), toaster strudel, and fries. Luckily, I've been able to eat and keep down pretty much anything, so my diet really hasn't changed that much with pregnancy. 

Have you had any mood swings?  I was wondering if this was going to happen to me, because I've never really had mood swings in the past, and luckily I haven't had anything too bad yet. I'm a pretty laid back person, so I'm just going with the flow, and I try not to get to anxious about all the changes that are coming (and expenses, that's where I can easily let myself get worked up). I could probably manage tears a little easier now then before given anything remotely sensitive. 

Are you a high risk pregnancy?  Nope.

Any complications?  Not so far, thank goodness.

Formula or Breastfeeding?  I don't have super strong opinions either way. I want to breastfeed, but I'm also not opposed to using formula if/when needed. 

Have you bought anything for the baby yet?  We got a ton of hand-me-down stuff from my sister, but we have bought a few little outfits and we are in the process of figuring out what kind of carseat, stroller, etc. we want. 

When did you start to show?  Well according to many friends and family members, I still don't look that pregnant. It really just depends on what I'm wearing and how I'm standing though. I look pregnant to myself, and I've noticed it more the past month, so I guess 22-23 weeks?

How long could you wear your regular clothes?  I'm still wearing regular shirts. I've tried on some maternity jeans and shorts and they are still way too big for me, so I just bought some jeans a size up the other day that I'm going to cut off and use as shorts for the next while. 

Will you keep the baby’s clothes?  Considering 90% of the clothes he wears will be thanks to my sister, we will probably give them back to her when he's grown out of them :)

Home or Hospital?  Hospital. 

Natural or Medicated birth?  I'm all for an epidural. 

Who will be in the delivery room with you?  Jared, and probably my mom and sister. 

Will you cry when you hold the baby for the first time?  Probably

What’s the first thing you might say to the baby?   I don't have a clue, I'll probably be talking more to Jared than the baby, but maybe something like "Hey there little man" or "I'm glad you can't kick my ribs anymore you little stinker!"

Will you let anyone video tape the birth?  My sister will probably be taking pictures, which is great. I haven't thought about taping anything though. 

Are you excited?  Yeah definitely. It's kind of hard to believe right now that we are actually going to have a baby, and if I think too long about it, I kind of get freaked out because I know everything will change. . . but for better or worse, this kid is coming!

Who will help you with the baby after the birth?  Well, I think my mom and mother-in-law will both come and stay with us for a bit. A bunch of our siblings live around us, so I'm sure we will have no shortage of visitors after that.

What is your favorite thing about being pregnant?  It's really cool being able to feel him move. I also enjoy the free back scratches that Jared so willing gives me before bed whenever I ask him (I used to have to trade for similar services before!)

What is the worst thing about being pregnant?  I really can't complain because I feel like I've had it pretty easy up to this point, but some of the downsides. . . sore back, bending over, nasal congestion, feeling hot and wearing garments (seriously, the. worst.) 

What’s one thing you miss doing since being pregnant?  Being able sleep through an entire night without having to get up multiple times to pee.

Any days you wish you were not pregnant?  Not really, but if our AC ever breaks, then I'll probably be cursing up a storm.

Are you ready for a baby?  We still have a few months to go, so the easy answer is no. I'm sure once we it gets closer we (and especially I) will feel ready and excited to meet him.

Do you have insurance?  Yes, even though we just found out yesterday that our monthly premium is going to triple starting next month. . . awesome, thanks Obama. 

How many kids do you want?  We’ll see how the first one goes, but probably 3-4.

Do you talk to the baby?  Eh, not really.  I'm constantly rubbing and touching my belly though. Maybe I'm just the only one who thinks talking to my stomach when I am home by myself is weird :)

Do you still feel attractive?  Tough question. I'm in that awkward stage where random people who don't know me (and even some friends who do) would never think I am pregnant, so I kind of just feel "bigger" not necessarily "pregnant." It is hard sometimes to see my body going through changes even though I know they are completely normal and healthy changes. When I get ready, I still feel cute and pretty, but I just don't really feel that pregnant yet from a looks basis, so I'm kind of blah about that question.

How far along are you now?  6 months

Well. . .

It's nice to have a talented husband who can 

create cool things like a baby announcement!

Jared and I found out right before Christmas that we are going to have a baby in August! We are excited and looking forward to the craziness that comes with parenthood. I'm about 12 weeks along and so far I've been feeling pretty good. We surprised our families with the news as their Christmas presents from us, and the reactions are pretty priceless haha!

My Family 

(my sister is a little crazy lol!)

Jared's Family

When we were in STG we got some family pictures taken before we told everybody. We came across this wall that some other couples must have used to take pregnancy pictures and everybody thought it would be funny if Jared and I took a picture like that as a joke. . . little did they know we really were expecting! Thanks to Wess and Melissa's little niece Lila for standing in as our prop in this picture!

Anyway, I'm sure there will be more details to share in the future, but we just wanted everybody to know our fun news!

Thanksgiving and 28th Birthday

We decided to spend head to Cleveland to spend Thanksgiving with my Oma this year. We had a really fun time! Oma is the best and took care of us all weekend, and it was fun for Jared to be able to meet some more of my family out there. We had a delicious turkey dinner on Thursday and then just hung out the rest of the weekend. We did a little Black Friday shopping with my cousins and then celebrated Jared's 28th birthday on Saturday. I told him on the way over that he was going to get the best birthday cake he's ever had, and I wasn't lying! My aunt and uncle own a bakery out there, and they seriously make the BEST cakes hands down, and Jared's was way good.

I don't want to get too mushy, but I'm lucky to be married to such a great guy! I hope you enjoyed your birthday, love you!

 Thanksgiving

On Friday night we went saw a show at a club with my aunts, uncles, 

my cousin Jess and her husband Mike, it was pretty interesting. . . 

A"Mardi Gras" theme and I'll leave it at that! :)

Jared's face in this picture cracks me up!

We went out for lunch on his birthday

Delicious cake!

When we got home we had a sweet package in the mail from 

our nieces and nephews, they are the best!

We decided to put the Christmas Tree up yesterday. 

New Year's "Resolutions" Revisited

Today has been an interesting day. President Obama got re-elected last night, and a lot of talk on social media has been about how much doom and gloom we can expect in the next four years. You'd seriously think it was the end of the world, which is a little dramatic if you ask me. I will admit that I voted for the other guy and I wasn't particularly happy to see that Obama won, but  all this pessimism me thinking today of the good things that Jared and I have that we can focus on. This got me thinking about this past year and how much has changed for us, so I decided to take a look at the New Year's "Resolutions" that I listed back in January and give updates about each one, which are listed in blue if you care to read any further :)

Things we will do. . . 

1. We will pay off our student loans, only 4 more months to go baby (We are so close. When I wrote this in January, I was only considering Jared loans, which we did pay off, but we still have a little ways to go with mine that kicked in after I finished Grad School.)
2. I will finish writing my thesis-of-doom and graduate with a Master's Degree! (Speaking of Grad School, I kicked the crap out of my thesis-of-doom and I officially graduated back in August.)
3. Jared will get a roof rack for the Subi. . . already has half of it now (Yeah he got the rest of the rack, I will admit that it looks pretty cool.)
4. We will pay off my car loan (Paid in full!) 
5. I will continue to make dinner most nights (Most is the key word here people, and I can say that I have done well to keep trying new recipes.) 
6. Jared will continue to go on lots of bike rides (This is the biggest understatement of the year.)
7. We will be moving up toward the SLC area, not sure where exactly, but somewhere north of Provo! (Bahaha, not so much, we are currently 2000 east of that destination.)
8. I will turn 25, the big quarter century year! (It's a perfect square year too, 5 x 5 = 25, there's really only 9 realistic perfect square years one could reach, so I thought it was a pretty cool, math geek here!)
9. Jared will turn 28 this year. . . nothing special about 28, other than it sounds old haha  (Yep, his b-day is Nov 24th and we will celebrate with some delicious cake from my Uncle's bakery.)
10. We will watch the rest of the second season of The Walking Dead (We finished watching the 2nd season and starting watching the 3rd season a few weeks ago. This past episode really pissed me off though, so I'm boycotting the rest of it!)
11. I will exercise only when I feel like it, which is not often haha! (Perfectly true statement here, I definitely have not exercised very often this year, although I did try out a Zumba class with a friend of mine, it's actually pretty fun!)
12. Jared will continue to curse the crappy Utah drivers on his commute to work. (Now he curses the crappy Wisconsin drivers. . . I don't think the location really makes a difference, everybody is a crappy driver in his eyes :) ha) 
13. We will be watching alot of basketball in the next four months and then alot of summer Olympics after that! (I watched the Olympics all day, every day. It was the best part of not having a real job over the summer!) 
14. I will continue to watch our budget like a hawk because I'm a little OCD when it comes to finances (Guilty, we just had a little budgeting pow wow last night before bed, it's amazing how fast you can blow through money if you aren't careful.)
15. Jared will design some sweet stuff at work and will likely pick up some free lance projects on the side (The verdict is still out on whether or not Trek will actually implement some of Jared's good designs. . . )
16. We will spend alot of evenings hanging out and relaxing together, we just aren't the most social people on the planet! (This is even more true now that we are living in Wisconsin)

Things we want to do. . .

1. We want to get some new couches, we are thinking a sectional (Haven't made this purchase yet, we are still making due with my parents 15 year old hand-me-down couches.)
2. I want to fly back to Cleveland sometime over the summer so that Jared can meet the rest of my extended family back there (One perk of living in Wisconsin is that we are close enough to drive to Cleveland. Jared has been able to meet alot of family back there, and he will get to meet even more when we go for Thanksgiving.)
3. Jared wants to get fog lights for the Subi (No luck there yet, it's further down the list now that he has access to discounted Trek merchandise) 
4. We want to see the Hunger Games movie (Good show)
5. I want to find a new apartment that is big enough to fit my piano (Done, just in a different state then originally planned when writing this list!) 
6. Jared wants to find a new apartment that is big enough for all of our biking and camping junk! (See above)
7. We want to go on a fun road trip somewhere with friends (Hmm. . . if we count each other as friends, road-tripped to Cleveland, and we plan to road trip to Lambeau Field this weekend haha)
8. I want to get a job as an adjunct professor at BYU teaching math (this is a freakin long shot but it would be cool!) (Well I did get offered that job at BYU, but we moved to Wisconsin, which still counts for something I'd say! At least I'm still working at the college level out here, much better fit for me than public school teaching)
9. Jared wants to get a job at REI Headquarters (another long shot, but this is a list of "wants" people!) (I'd say Trek is a pretty good deal for him)
10. We want to go to see a Jazz game when they play Jimmer's team (Never ended up getting tickets to watch the Jazz when they played Jimmer's team, not that it mattered because Jimmer is not a very good NBA player as of yet.)
11. I want to learn how to cook some good German food like schnitzel and spaetzle (I'm going to have my Oma teach me over Thanksgiving if there is time)
12. Jared wants to design a christmas card for us this year (I don't know if he really wants to, but I'm going to make him!) (Considering it's still just the two of us, I figured a legitimate Christmas card from us would really be underwhelming for friends and family. . .)
13. We want to do something cool for our anniversary this year as we've always been too busy with school and family stuff the past couple of years (Yes! We stayed at an awesome place in downtown Madison and spent a great weekend together, it was great!) 

And last but not least

14. I want to get pregnant. . . totally depends on where we are at toward the end of the year and what I feel like I should be doing with my career at that point in time, but we aren't gettin any younger folks and we want to start having kids sometime in the next couple of years. (Working on it, and that's all I will say about that)


 A lot has happened this past year and we still have almost two months to go! I would say it's been one of the best although bittersweet years of my life. Best because we've really been blessed with good jobs, a nice place to live etc. but also bittersweet because we are now so far away from our families. But overall, it has been a great year so far and I look forward to many more great years, regardless of who the dang President is!