Collins Shenanigans

Thanksgiving, finals, and anything in between !

2011-12-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

Well, for Thanksgiving we headed to Mtn. View to be with my family. It was really fun but a little bit weird. We had the 5th? annual Turkey Bowl at the high school on a snow covered field! Instead of having Thanksgiving at the church with my mom's whole family, we decided to branch off this year.. that was the weird part, but it was still really fun. We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner/lunch at my parents house with all of my family in attendance minus Evan and Olivia (They were in Star Valley). Thanksgiving Day was also Porter's firts birthday!!!! So we celebrated with some really cute owl cupcakes with a theme of - Look "who"s turning 1. Jordan put alot of hard work into his cute little party and it turned out great. We just relaxed and spent some time with family it was really nice. Then Friday the fun began. Growing up my dad always had plenty of help running the ranch, I mean he had 7 kids! Well we always joke that my dad plans working cows around holidays because he knows we will be home to help, and this year wasn't any different. We headed out Friday morning to get all of the cows and bull in so we could work them. It actually went surprisingly fast once we got things running I think it took about 4 hours or so. I'm so glad my dad got a new shoot to work cows otherwise I think it would definitely have taken longer! When we got home, they had homemade "chicken" (turkey) noodles ready for us with fresh crescent rolls. We were all pretty frozen to the bone so it was nice to come home to a warm house and a hot meal. On Saturday I played in a volleyball tournament with 2 of my sisters, my cousin Tori, her sister in law, and Holly. We definitely didn't win but we had a fun time anyways :) Although I think we were all wishing it had been over a few hours earlier! Michael was such a good sport he took care of Kyri all day while I played, I have the best husband in the world! Speaking of Kyri, she is such a hoot! She is growing up so fast I can't even believe it, she is learning so much everyday. Her newest thing is that she likes to say "uh-oh". She kept grabbing the program at church today and "dropping" (aka throwing) it on the ground and saying uh-oh it was too cute. It is so fascinating to see how much she learns and grows everyday. We are getting excited for Christmas around here, and we love this time of year. We finished all of our finals this week and are taking advantage of a much needed break! I can't believe we made it through this semester. With both of us physically going to school full time and working it has been a ridiculously insane semester. I am only taking 2 online classes next semester to save our sanity! That way I can work full time and Michael can work and go to school and not have to worry about my class schedule and we won't be running in a 3 ring circus. We are excited to go to Lovell for Christmas, only 10 more days till we get to leave! Other than that we are just working and loving being able to spend more time with Kyri and less time working on homework. We had our annual Christmas party for work last weekend and we actually won a prize!! I have worked at Gem City for 4 Christmases now so I figured I was about due to win a prize ;) Here are some pictures from the last posts (in no particular order) since I have been a slacker!

She always blinks! This is from today :)

Olivia, Evan, and Jordan Hyde at the Christmas party

Me and Kyri at the Christmas party

Michael, Liv and Evan and Kyri's body

Kyri throwing back some Mtn. Dew... it was all Michael's doing!

David trying to wear someone elses coat
Porter turns 1!

Michael holding Kyri and Chase, Kyri doesn't share her parents very well.

Zaylee, David, Porter and Hallie ready to sing to Porter
Devin and Amy :)

Kyri and Porter just chillin

Kyri trying to get Grandpa's toothpick

Michael in the turkey bowl... he laid there for a while

JR ad Devin

Mike and Trystin

Michael playing QB

The whole crew!

Lovell win! 2A State Champions

Trevin holding Kyri

The Day Kyri got the flu :(

Happy Birthday to Kyri, she thinks she knows how to talk on the phone!
Kyri's shirt, she had to represent both cousins!

One time I chopped my hair and donated it! 10+ inches!!

Kyri and Michael when Heather came to visit we went to a football game!

After Dino's team took state

Kyri was the cutest puppy for halloween

Cute little nerd!

Mom and dad with all 18 grandkids (counting Alyssa)

Carving pumpkins :)

Kyri turns 1!!! And gets spoiled :)

UW vs. Nebraska, Ky and I had a pretty good view!!

Kyri with Great Grandpa Walker at Trystin and Dino's game

Lovell vs. MV

Kyri playing xbox with Dino when they surprised us with a visit to Laramie!

Kyri with great Grandpa Walker... the video (if it works?) is Kyri with my dad they were friends over Thanksgiving!!

Oh yeah...

2011-11-18T21:25:00.001-08:00

I forgot, one more thing.... I chopped off all of my hair!!! I had been wanting to donate it to locks of love forever, but I was always too scared. I have had so many close friends and family lose their battles with cancer so I did it for all of them and I love my new hair!!!

Catching up before the holidays!

2011-11-18T19:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, here I am with a few spare minutes while Michael is playing xbox! First things first, way back forever ago in September Heather and her family came to visit us! It was so much fun we never get visitors so it was fun for us :) They brought Trevor down so he could check out UW and everything and we even got to go to a football game with them :) We had a full house and loved every minute of it! Poor Ralee got sick on Sunday and puked, but she recovered and they got to stay with us until Monday. I wish they could have stayed longer! Then we had a break for a weekend and the next weekend was a wild one! We headed to Mountain View to watch my nephew Trystin play against Michael's nephew Dino. It was a CRAZY game!! Lovell ended up on top winning 21-19, but it was definitely a thriller. Dino went out with a sprained ankle early in the game so we didn't get to see him run the ball much but he still played some defense in the game. Then Dino, Cody, and Dylan stayed with us in Mtn. View and went out with my "niece" Alyssa and her friends and Trystin. The Lovell kids introduced them to "star tripping" and they loved it, I think they all had a really fun time! Then we got up early the next morning and came back to Laramie for the UW vs. Nebraska game!!! Keela came down for it and Kristie was already here with Brady, and his mom even came from Nebraska too. It was a crazy game, Wyoming definitely lost, but it was still fun to watch. I ended up sitting by some really nice Nebraska fans with Kyri, we definitely were not cut out to be in the student section for that game haha. Then we went back to normal life for a couple of weeks just going to school and working and everything in between. Then we took a trip up to Lovell/ Billings to watch Dino and Trevor play football and for Kyri's birthday! We got to Lovell just in time for the game and they dominated Thermopolis. The next day our baby turned 1!!!!! I can't even believe it! She was spoiled by everybody. We had some cake and ice cream and opened up presents. She wasn't really into the whole birthday thing but thats ok. Then we watched Trevor play football that night. They played Billings Central, and came so close to winning. I think they were definitely the better team. It kind of stunk because Trevor had the flu so he hardly got to play, and he is really one of their great players so that was a bummer. Next thing we knew it was time to head back home to Laramie. Don't worry, Kyri caught Trevor's flu bug and puked the whole way home. Then guess who got it 2 days later? That would be me! followed shortly by Michael... it was quite the bug. Levi and Keela came down that next weekend for the homecoming game against UNLV, and they caught the bug too :S but it was a fun weekend before everyone got sick. Unfortunately, during this time, my Aunt Patty (who had cancer) took a turn for the worse, and she ended up passing away so the next weekend we went home for her funeral. It was a really nice service. We also helped cut up a beef while we were there and we celebrated my mom's and my brother's birthdays. We have finally stayed in Laramie for a few weekends in a row now so it was nice to have a break from all of the traveling. Lovell made it to the State Championship football game so everyone came to Laramie to watch this last weekend. It was so much fun and such an exciting game. Dino played so great. It was nice to see him get to play a full game since the starters didn't see alot of time on the field this year. They have a really talented bunch of kids! Anyways Lovell beat Lyman in the championship 21-13!! What a great way to end an undefeated season :) We had so many people around who came down for the game it was fun to see family. My dad and brother and nephew even came to watch the games. I told my dad he couldn't cheer for his alma mater (Lyman) if he sat by us though, he might have got beaten up hehe. I did have a few relations playing for Lyman so it was fun to watch them too. We got to watch some 6-man football as well and that was really neat. My dad was one of the members of the WHSAA board that got 6-man football started so I think it was really neat for him to see how far it has come, it was probably one of the most exciting games of the weekend. After all that excitement, it was time to get back to the grind. We only have a couple more weeks of school left thank goodness! I am so ready to be done. It is so hard to have both Michael and I work and have both me and Michael go to school on campus full time. I think I am going to go back to online classes to save my sanity!! Kyri is growing like crazy and changing every day. We love her so much. She is pretty much running all over the place, and she can say mama, dada, yes, no, hi, and the rest just sounds like gibberish, but she understands so much better now it is really unbelievable to see how she grows and develops so quickly! She loves Tangled, we watch it daily, and she loves anything electronic. Anytime she sees a phone she starts saying "hi" and runs and grabs it. She is such a little sweet heart and we are so spoiled to have her for our daughter! I will post pictures of everything once I get them all off my camera :) Thats all for now!

Picture Overload!

2011-11-13T14:13:00.001-08:00

So remember that one time when I updated about 2 months ago and promised pictures from this summer! Well I finally have 2 seconds so I think I will post some :) Who knows maybe I will even have some time to update on what we have been doing the last 2 months?!?!

Just some cute pictures of Kyri from this summer :)

Having some fun at the splash pad even though it was a little cold that day!

First Oreo!!!!
Having fun at Olive Garden
Kyri loved watching dad play softball :)
At Family Fun Night, you can barely see the little firework face paint on her cheek :)
Kyri loves paper she gets into the recycle boxes at work all the time!
A picture from Marilyn the Jenkins girls love Kyri :)
Kyri with Grandpa Walker, and a sweet mohawk

Michael pitching at a softball game
All the triathletes from this summer
Finishing my first 5 k

Jo and Uncle Neal, the bikers for the teams
Michael and Kyri dancing at Stormy and Jim's wedding

Stormy and Jim Dolezal
Bridal Shower

Kyri at Horseshoe bend, the water was too cold for her!
No beach!!!

Basketball on the 4th of July
Collins ladies :)
Michael's sister Corrinna, Heather, and Kristie with their dad
Almost the whole family!
Almost all the grandkids
Just us :)
The Collins boys- minus Matt :(
Kyri LOVES Kaona
Bradden and Dino
Coming down off the mountain
Kyri with Kyle and Jaret
Michael found a snail ( and grossed everyone out when he almost licked it!)
Kyri and Kierza eating marshmallows

Hiking at 5 springs

The water was out of control!

Dino and Bradden being adventurous

Bradden, Kaona, and Dino

Landslideby the bench!
Kyri also loves Michael Shawn
Michael and Michael Shawn at the batting cages
The 2 girls with Uncle Willy
Kyri chillaxin with Michael Shawn

Kyri and Josh
Watching Mustang Days Parade
Waiting for Dino's baseball game in Green River after Olivia's reception

Kyri wanted some cake but the wouldn't let her break into it until Liv and Evan had some :)

Kyri with Uncle Nate!
The Brigham City Temple under construction
Logan Temple on Olivia's wedding day
All my siblings minus Devin :( We were sad he had to work
The happy couple!
Me and my sister Jordan with Sarah in the background

Surprise Visit!

2011-09-04T18:55:00.002-07:00

A couple weekends ago Dino and Kristie came to Laramie to visit. We were so excited we don’t get visitors very often so we were pretty happy J We stayed up way too late most of the nights visiting but we had so much fun. We went to the brown and gold to get them some UW stuff for when they come down to the Nebraska game, walked around campus, showed them where we work, watched some Friday Night Lights, talked a lot about football, and just relaxed. They spoiled Kyri and loved on her so much, which she of course loved because she loves all the attention. We were sad to see them leave, but we get to see them in a few weeks when Dino plays Trystin in football in Mtn. View! School started and we are running around like crazy. We are both going to school full time and working while being full time parents! It’s a crazy life, but we have such a wonderful baby and I think Heavenly Father knew what he was doing sending her to us know. She is such a sweetheart and changing everyday! She will be one before we know it!

24th of July Celebration

2011-09-04T18:55:00.001-07:00

This year we headed to Mtn. View for the 24^th of July celebration of when the Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. I have been wanting to do the triathalon for the last 3 years but I got knee surgery, then I was getting married and then I was pregnant so I decided this was my year! I didn’t really have time to train after having Ky because I still had to do school and work, so I recruited people so that we could do the team triathalon. I am a terrible swimmer, so I asked Michael if he would swim for me. I didn’t really have anyone in mind to bike, so I was just going to run and bike, but at the last minute, my sister Jordan said she wanted to , so that was a relief. I ran my first 5k and it was good. I want to do more once I get in better shape. We had a Ronald Walker family reunion that weekend too so the night before the triathalon we had a cook out and did a family Amazing Race. It was really fun and I was so glad to see my dad’s siblings and their families. We had a lot of people participate in the triathalon. My brother in law David did it all by himself and I think he took 7^th out of the men. He did great! I think he finished in 54 minutes. The guy who won it (wins it every year) finished in 38 minutes… he was in and out of the pool before the second person even got off his bike to get in the pool. CRAZY! Ashlee and Tammy also did it individually and they did great I am hoping to do it myself next year! Then there was our team and my Uncle Neal and Aunt Sallee had a team with my brother in law Nathan as the swimmer. Ky was a real trooper through all of the traveling that we did this summer! We love her to death and can’t imagine life without her J She took her first steps back in July and she is walking more and more everyday. She can say “mama” and “dada” and “papa” and “nono” while shaking her head no, it is the cutest! I can’t believe she is 10 months old! (Once again pictures to come!)

Trip to Lovell, 4th of July, Mtn. View, and a Wedding

2011-09-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

We had a crazy summer this year! Between, work, weddings, softball, and reunions we were running like crazy! We got a couple weeks off work to take a vacation so we headed up to Lovell for Mustang Days. I had never experienced it before so I told Michael that we should go. We got up there on Friday afternoon and just had a fun time at the park hanging out with Michael’s family at the family fun night. Michael and I took Kyri to get her face painted she was a trooper, we just got a little firework on her cheek. Michael ended up getting a Harry Potter scar painted on his forehead it was funny (with his dark hair and glasses and stick wand he looked like the real deal haha). Then we left the teenagers there so they could have fun at teen night and we went to Leroy and Gails to visit and down to Minchows to let the little kids run around and dance. This was my first time to ever meet Michael’s sister Corrinna and her family so it was really great to go up there! The next day was the parade and then I spent the afternoon playing in a volleyball tournemant at the park. We ended up taking 4^th, we lost to the team that won, and so they made us play a consolation game, but we were ready to be done! It was so hot and I think everyone left with some sweet sunburns and farmer tans. We spent part of the next week up in Billings relaxing and playing games with Michael’s family. We played some Annie Annie I Over, and something about a Fruit Basket? And just fun games out in the yard. One day Michael, me,Ky, Michael Shawn, and Miranda went to the batting cages it was 103 degrees and I was ready to die! Then we headed back down to Lovell for the 4^th of July festivities. We went up to the mountains to Five Springs and it was so nice. The water was so high so that was a little scary with all the little kids but we had a lot of fun having a cook out up there. We took some family pictures the next day, but we were missing Matt and some of his family L Other than that everyone was there, it was so fun to spend time with all of Michael’s siblings. On the 4^th We went to Leroy and Gails and had lots of yummy food and then shot off fireworks. Lovell 4^th of July is really weird to me because they do the fireworks show the week before for Mustang Days and then everyone else shoots off their own stuff for the 4^th. I mostly have a heart attack when the little kids are setting off the fireworks but by the end of the night they settle in and watch the big kids set off the big fireworks so then I don’t freak out near as bad. We spent a couple more days in Lovell. We went out to horseshoe bend one day and the water was SOOOO high there wasn’t even a beach! The water was freezing and we only stayed out there for a little while. Stinkin Bradden thought it would be a good idea to wear white shorts with nothing under them in the water haha he was a little embarrassed when it was time to get out and go home! The next day we headed to Mtn. View to see my family. My cousin Stormy was getting married that weekend so I had a lot of family visiting from out of town and it was so fun to see everyone. My cousin Kylie told us she was going to have a baby so we are excited for her! It was great to see my Uncle Rob and his family since we don’t get to see them often and my cousin Bobby was able to come from Indiana with his cute little family for the wedding.I went to Stormy’s bridal shower with my mom, and then the next day was the wedding. Her and Jim are so great I am really happy for them! I helped my dad hay a little bit while I was home and I even taught Michael how to run the swather, but it was so wet! I can’t believe how much water was still running off and how much snow we still had in the Mountains! We went to church in Mtn. View with my parents and then it was time to head back to Laramie and back to the real world with no more sleeping in and no more lazy days. (Pictures to come!)

Olivia’s Wedding and Reception

2011-09-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

Yay for Olivia and Evan! They got married June 10^th in the Logan Temple. It was a beautiful day J We headed to Mtn. View that Thursday night. Then on Friday we got up, got ready, and headed to Logan. We were having a lunch before the wedding at a park in Logan and Olivia gave everyone backwards directions! So we drove around Logan for a good 30 minutes until we figured she switched the North and East directions. We got to the park and enjoyed some YUMMY Panda Express and visited and then it was time to head to the temple. The ceremony was just great. My grandpa was able to seal them, and it was a little hard for him because it was his first family wedding since my grandma pass away, but she was there, you could feel it. All of my siblings were able to be there except Devin and Amy. Devin had to work and Amy didn’t want to drive alone all that way with baby Chase and Cameron. Michael and I took off right after some family pictures and headed to Tooele to stay with Michaels’ cousin Nate. We had such a fun time staying with them and visiting. We even got to have some Café Rio !!! ( I love Café Rio ) J Then we got up early the next morning and headed back to Mtn. View to hang out with my family some more after the craziness of all the wedding stuff. Then it was back to Laramie and work for a week then we headed back to Mtn. View for the reception the next weekend. We got their early Friday and helped get everything set up. My parents worked so hard on the ranch getting it ready for my wedding and they have had 2 other receptions there since and Olivia’s was just as beautiful, it was nice to have everything done a few years ago so we didn’t have to do as much work on the yard and everything. We left Saturday so that we could go watch Dino play baseball because we didn’t know before we left, but he had a tournemant in Green River. We got to watch a great game, and they won so that made it worth it J (We didn’t get home till 3 in the morning)! Pictures to come soon!

Alot of Catching up!

2011-06-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Wow what a slacker I have been! A lot has happened in the last few months. At her 6 month check up poor little Ky bug had RSV. She was so miserable for about 3 weeks, but she eventually got over it with breathing treatments and lots of love. Kyri and I went home to Mtn. View for Easter. We had a fun time with family dying Easter eggs and such. Brynn and her 2 little guys were there, and JR and Tonyas family was around as well as Justin and Nikki and their kids. We even kidnapped big Cameron to come dye Easter eggs. Poor little Kannen was sick, they thought he had hand-foot-and mouth disease… poor little guy L I got to meet cute baby Chase for the first time and he is a little sweet heart! He was quarantined to his house though since he was a preemie they didn’t want to take any chances with him, but he is doing great now! Baby Porter has made quite the turn around too J We also went wedding dress shopping for Olivia. She found a beautiful dress and we can’t wait for her and Evan to get married! Only 5 more days J Kyri looked so cute in her little Easter dress. She definitely peed on me when we were walking out to the car from church though! What a stinker. Michael didn’t get to come with us because he had promised his friend Parker Lyman that he would go help them brand up in Ten Sleep so he got to go have a little adventure and some man time up there with all of his friends. Then we came back, took all our finals, and headed back to Mtn. View to help my dad brand. It went pretty smooth, other than the fact that my poor dad had a terrible cold. We tried to convince him to stay home and that we could handle it, but he was stubborn and wouldn’t listen (weird…) haha so we found him a chair that he could rest on in between calves. My grandpa even got to come help for a little while. Michael and I got to visit with him for a little while after and it was really nice. He sure misses grandma a lot, but he is hanging in there. We had a little heart attack when we pulled up to my parents house though! My sister Brynn had her baby about 4 weeks early, but they had finally brought the baby home from the hospital. We didn’t know the baby had ever come home, and I knew that my dad had been feeling really sick, so I started to panic a little bit when I saw an ambulance pull up to my house right behind us! I ran inside, thinking something had happened to my dad, but no one was there! So.. I immediately called my dad to see if he was ok. I said “Where are you”… “Oh just in Evanston at the hospital” So now I am freaking out, then he said…”just dropping off a car seat.” And I said oh Brynn is bringing home Emma? Then I got the full story… apparently they had already brought the baby home earlier that day, but she had just finished eating and spit up, but she inhaled and started choking on the spit up and couldn’t breathe so they had to call the ambulance and take her back in, forgot the car seat so my parents had to run it into Evanston for them. My dad isn’t the best communicator in the world! After that wild weekend we came back to Laramie and back to work etc. I started summer classes on the 16^th of May and I will be done this week yay!!! I had one week of pure hell. I went to work from 7-8:30, class from 9-3, then back to work from 3:30-6. It was awful. I felt like the worst mother and wife ever but Michael took such good care of Kyri. I don’t know what I would do without him! Now I don’t have to work in the morning, I still have class form 9-noon, and work from 12:30 till 5:30 but it’s not near as bad as before. Michael has been keeping busy with work in the middle of the week, playing xbox of course, and he is also playing on a softball team for the summer. It is always fun to go watch them play. He also got contacts finally! Yay! He has wanted them for a while but we just never got around to it, but when he started softball again he decided he needed them for when he played because the glasses just weren’t cutting it. I also started doing Melaleuca a little bit this summer and I love everything I have got so far! I might try the business side of it just to dip my foot in the water, but nothing too serious! Kyri is out of control! She is crawling EVERYWHERE! She pulls herself up and walks along furniture, boxes, anything that she can use to stand up! She likes to eat real people food and she has turned into a little chunk! She is so happy and is always smiling which is really nice. She is such a good little baby… most of the time ;) WE LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!! We found a new apartment and we love it so far. It is a little smaller than our last place but a lot more updated, it has new carpet and linoleum (sp?) which is nice with a crawling baby, and it doesn’t cost near as much!! We are gearing up for a busy month this month. Olivia is getting married this weekend in Logan yay! I threw her a bridal shower here and it was a lot of fun. Then the next weekend she will have a reception in at my parent’s house. (Hopefully it doesn’t snow!) Then we will head to Lovell the next week and stay up there for about a week and a half. Michael’s sister Corrinna is coming down from Alaska to visit. Most of her kids are already here, and she will be here soon, so we wanted to be able to spend some time with them. I have never met them before! Then we will go to Mtn. View for a couple days and stay for my cousin Stormy’s wedding in Evanston on the 9^th of July! Then we will finally have a break from traveling for the summer until something else comes up!

( I will post about the wedding as soon as I get pictures off my camera!!!)

Kyri really missed her daddy over Easter!

Easter Sunday

Ky likes to try and feed herself.. it usually doesn’t turn out the best ;)

Easter Eggs

Doctoring the calf

Me and KJ just hanging out

Olivia’s bridal shower !

Ky with Grandpa during the dress shopping extravaganza

Ky wearing daddy’s hat

My little baby could be a model J

Poor Kyri June with RSV L

Pop of Gold (There was $5 in that balloon !)

I almost forgot!

2011-04-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, add this to my last post, my sister Olivia also got engaged this month! YEEEHAW! She is getting married June 10th in Logan, Utah. And, my brother and sister in law just had their little baby boy at 3:30 this morning so I am an aunt again on my side for the 15th time (16 if you count Alyssa) and overall for the 35th time (36 if you count Alyssa :)) No name yet and he is in the NICU with underdeveloped lungs because he was 2 weeks early, but hopefully he will be better soon so we can see him for Easter!

March Madness!

2011-04-02T23:08:00.000-07:00

What a wild month! I definitely love March. So many basketball games to watch, and brackets to fill out! I am probably the biggest Kansas Jayhawk fan you will ever meet and I had a lot of fun cheering them on this year. Once again, they left me without another championship and it was pretty hard to swallow, but I think I have handled it pretty well. My family likes to tease me ( Jayhawks suck, by: Michael, see if she catches this before she posts it VCU seriously!!!) (Side note: I did see this before, I just thought it was a great example of how much people like to tease me when KU loses :() whenever they lose, and this year was no exception! We watched a few of UW girls WNIT games it was really fun! Kyri seriously loves to watch basketball. She sat and watched so many games with us! This month we got to have a nice spring break. We went up to Lovell/Billings for a few days and it was so good to see everyone. We went to Billings and saw Matt and his family, Heather and her family, and Willy. Then we went back to Lovell and just had a relaxing weekend. We went to church with Dino and Kristie and then spent some time at Toby and Cathy’s house. The next day was Zeke’s birthday so we had pizza and celebrated at Toby and Cathy’s. We had so much fun seeing everyone we didn’t want to leave! Whenever we go home to Mtn. View or Lovell I never want to come back to Laramie! Only 2 more years here I guess though so it will be ok. We had to come back early from spring break to work. After that March was kind of a blur. Kyri was pretty sick the last couple days we were in Lovell, she had a terrible fever (104 L) so that was really scary. We took her to the Dr. 3 times in 4 weeks. The first time they said nothing was wrong and she just had a little cold. The second time they tested her for RSV etc. and didn’t find anything, just a cold. The third time after terrible fevers and puking all over everything ( I don’t mean spitting up, she was literally projectile vomiting on everything, me, Michael, Evan, the floor, everything!) I took her in bound and determined to get some answers. It turned out that she had a cold (like the last 2 times) AND a double ear infection, so she got to be on antibiotics for a few days and she is doing MUCH better now. She likes to come to work with me every once in a while. Every year at work we do the Pop of Gold where they fill up balloons with $$$$ and you get to pick a balloon and whatever money is in it you win! Kyri came and she picked a $5 balloon J We also bought Tangled for Kyri when it came out on DVD. SHE LOVED IT! We watched it for family movie night and she stayed up with me till 11 watching… Michael fell asleep… J We are looking for a new apartment which is really frustrating but it will be so nice to get out of the place we are in now.. it is WAY too expensive. It is hard to believe this semester is winding down, it has gone by so fast! I have changed my plan (again) and I am putting off my History degree for a semester and I am starting to work on an Elementary Education Degree. I am pretty excited about it! Michael and I will hopefully finish school at the same time, so it will only take me a couple extra semesters and then I will have a history degree and an Elementary Education degree along with 12 credits towards my masters! Other than that we are just chugging along juggling school, work, and family. That is all the update I have for now! Hopefully I can get a little better at this when I have a little break from school!
Ky LOVES bath time :)

WNIT game against Oklahoma St.

WNIT game against Portland St.

Kyri and Cecelia

Kyri and Daddy before the Cowgirls game

Kyri and Kaona! She loves Kaona :)

Smiles!

Ky with Aunt Heather

Michael thinks he is dominating at Disney Scene it

Playing Games at Heather's house

Ky and Kierza

Ky in her cute hat from Kristie

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse YUMMY!

Where did February go?!

2011-03-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is already March! February just flew by, I don't really remember what happened even. We went to Mtn. View for my Grandmas funeral, it was really good... as far as funerals go. My whole family was there so it was great to see everyone again. The rest of the month we ran around like crazy trying to fit in work, school, baby, homework, a few UW games and everything else life threw our way. My sister's baby, Porter, gave us all quite a scare. He went back into the hospital for round 3 and ended up staying there from about the 10th of February until the 28th or so :S He is doing so much better now, we even got to see him this past weekend! We didn't do anything too outstanding for Valentines Day, I'm not really into flowers and chocolate or candy, so our AMAZING daycare people set aside a few hours that night to watch all of the kids so parents could go on a date. Michael and I went to the movie "Just Go With It" and it was so great I highly recommend it! Then we picked up Kyri and came home and made a yummy dinner (Amy's pasta) it was sooooooo good! We also were spoiled to go on another date this month to watch "Tangled" at the cheap seats and it was so dang cute, I am for sure buying it for Kyri when it comes out on DVD!! At the end of the month we went to Casper for State Wrestling to watch Dino! He did so good, he had such a tough bracket, and he ended up taking 4th. The good news is the 2 kids that beat him were seniors this year so he has a pretty good shot for next year! We had so much fun seeing alot of Michael's family. Then we came back for another crazy week and left for Mtn. View again to go car shopping this last weekend! We bought our first car together and it was kind of scary but we love it! We got a 2003 GMC Envoy :) Its a 4 wheel drive SUV which was basically my only criteria :) I hate Wyoming winter without 4 wheel drive so I am pretty excited. We had a few calving adventures while we were in Mtn. View. Of course my dad has Sunday morning meetings at the church so around 7:00 he called hoe to ask mom if Michael and I could go check a cow that he saw in the field on his way to the church. He didn't know if she was dead or calving so we went to check... well she was still alive.. barely, sadly I can't say the same for the calf :( His head got caught and she couldn't push him out. We ran back home and changed clothes, grabbed my brother and went back up to pull the calf out. Michael and Justin finally got the calf out, but the mama prolapsed and her uterus came out, yes all of this while my dad is in his meetings, so we had to wait for him to come home, we got the cow stabilized and warmed back up (she decided to try and give birth in a nice puddle of ice water) and dad and Justin fixed her problems and sewed her back up... needless to say no one made it to church that morning!

Michael with the poor mama cow

We finally made it back to Laramie safe and sound, one week of classes and then we get to take off for Lovell/Billings for spring break! We only get a couple days off, but that is ok with me. Our little Ky bug has been sick for about 3 weeks so we took her into the doctor for the 2nd time in 3 weeks and found out that she has some form of bronchiolitis which isn't as severe as RSV, but it is worse than a cold, so she has been on some breathing treatments, and hopefully she is on the mend! She is growing like crazy, I'm not sure how much she weighs or how tall she is, but she can roll over both ways, hold her own bottle and she is so close to crawling! She is such a little champ! We lover her more and more everyday! That is all I have for now!

Oh January....

2011-01-29T19:13:00.000-08:00

Is it ok to hate your birthday month?! Ok Ok I shouldn't be that pesimistic, but I feel like its a month for people to die. Maybe it is a winter thing I can't be too sure, all I know is that whenever I lose someone dear to me it happens in December or January :( What brings this up you might ask? Well today my family lost a very special woman. My Grandma Walker returned home to her Heavenly Father today, and I know it was a very wonderful day for her to be released from the physical ailments of her mortal life. My sweet grandmother has had MS for as long as I can remember.. at least 20 years, but I think possibly longer. She has always had to use a wheelchair or a cane to get around.. accompanied by my sweet grandpa of course. I know I can't be mad, because this is truely a blessing for this wonderful woman, and it would be very selfish for us to keep her here suffering through this life. Over the last month, she has been getting progressively worse, although she would never tell anyone... thats how she was, always putting others before her and never letting anyone know the pain she was in. Earlier this month she had to go to the hospital and get her lungs drained because there was fluid building up in them. The first time they drained 2 Liters of fluid from one lung, for those who aren't medically savvy that is a very large and unhealthy amount of fluid to be in one lung. She left the hospital, only to return a short while later to drain her lungs again.. a third time, and they diagnosed her with cirrhosis of the liver. Her body was beginning to shut down. On Friday night my mother called to tell me that she wouldn't make it through the night. Naturally I spent the night crying. I woke up to discover that she had held on through the night. What a strong woman she was. I think she wanted to giver her children a chance to say goodbye. She told everyone she was ready to go, I think to try to ease the pain, but its never easy to say goodbye to someone you love so much. And then she left this Earth. On a beautiful January morning she returned to her Father in Heaven, what a reunion I know she is having now. She is reunited with her parents, and her brothers. I told Kyri that Grandma Walker was going to tell Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Wes and Mandy how beautiful she is and what a blessing she is to our family. (How is it possible that 3 out of these 4 wonderful people left us for heaven in January?! See why I hate it, if it wasn't my birthday month I would loathe January!) It seems a little bit unreal that she is gone. I keep having bouts of crying, and I keep telling myself I need to stop feeling sorry for myself. I think what tugs at my heart strings the most is that my dad doesn't have a mommy anymore, and my Grandpa is without his sweetheart of nearly 63 years. When I don't think about those things, I realize how beautiful the plan of salvation really is and that we will all be together sooner than we will ever know, and that Grandma is enjoying herself up there. I think my uncle put it best when he said that she left her wheelchair and her cane behind and now she is running and dancing with joy in heaven. I hope that one day I can be as patient and strong as my Grandma, I guess that gives me something to work on among my many imperfections, but as much as I love and miss my Grandma, I know that she has been waiting to be relieved from this life for a while now, and she will be keeping an eye out for my family until we get to see her again.

On a somewhat lighter note... Kyri can roll over BOTH WAYS font to back and back to front. We started her in Day care and she does so good there. She can also hold her own bottle and she has developed a new habit of squeeling I have no idea where she picked that one up! Michael and I are working, I am doing 30 hours a week and he is doing 25 we are both full time school I have 18 credits and Michael has 16. So close to graduating! Michael will have his associates this spring and I will get my bachelors in August :) I am doing some P90X and Zumba to get myself back into shape, and it is going pretty good so far :) thats all I have for now!

White Christmas (PICTURE OVERLOAD!!!)

2011-01-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

Well, it never fails that anytime we need to travel for the holidays we get pounded with snow, so 2 days before we were trying to leave for Mtn. View, this is what we woke up to

Its hard to tell but there is about 8 inches of snow, and it continued to dump 2 more inches at least that day! Fortunately we caught a break in the storm action and made it out of Laramie Wednesday night. That night we just hung out at my parents house and relaxed after the long drive. Devin, Amy, and Cameron came over that night, this was Devin's first time to see Kyri he was so cute holding her and he is going to be the cutest dad when their little one gets here this spring! The next day was just a nice lazy day, we got to relax and visit with family and everything. Mom and dad ran to Evanston to do some last minute shopping, so everyone went sledding while they were gone. My dad has this strange habit of having projects on the ranch whenever everyone is home for the holidays, fortunately this year there was no butchering cows, instead we got to haul cows down from the bench to our house. Mtn. View got pounded with snow as well, and the snow plows were late getting on the roads so we got to haul 10 loads of cows on crappy roads (like 2 inches of ice and then snow on top of that). My brothers were not very happy about having to haul cows on Christmas Eve, but I somehow convinced them to help :) I know my dad really appreciated the help! That afternoon we had the Davis family Christmas party with my moms family... MEXICAN FOOD! It was so yummy and so much fun to see everyone... we played dirty santa, and there were some real winners haha.. I think my aunt Sallee gets the prize for the worst gift! Kyri looked so cute in her outfit, her shirt says, "All mommy wants for Christmas is a SILENT NIGHT" :) Surprisingly I think she only woke up once that night so I got my present!

Kyri sitting in my moms massage chair, I think she liked it :) This Christmas was a little unique for my family, my parents decided to do 7 days of Christmas with the last day being Christmas Eve, they gave us all 1 present a day for a week before Christmas and on Christmas Eve they invited all of the Grandkids to come over and open their present from Grandpa and Grandma... well I guess my dad got caught up in the spirit of Christmas that night or something because he proceeded to pull pretty much every present out from under the tree and hand them out to open that night!! This coming from Mr. Grinch! Growing up we were NEVER allowed to open presents before Christmas.. that went out the window this year! So Christmas morning there were only mine, Michael, and Kyri's presents to open and a couple presents for my mom and dad that we made them wait to open.

She looks a little bit excited! I think she will love Christmas this next year, we just got her a cartoon and a Baby's first Christmas ornament :)

This was my big present this year, I have wanted a jewelry armoir for a while now and Michael got one for me... he did an AMAZING job wrapping it I never would have guessed what it was ;)

Getting ready to go to breakfast with the Walkers, my dad's side of the family, our families are too big so for Christmas Eve we go to the church in Mtn. View, and for breakfast we go to the stake center in Urie.

Cute little family, Devin, Amy and Cameron, and ???? I want his name to be Keaton, Kaden or Jaxon :) I guess we'll find out in a couple months.

Cameron and Paxton, two peas in a pod! That afternoon we went over to my Grandma Davis's house for her famous homemade chicken noodles!!! We got spoiled! Then my dad needed help feeding the cows.. Corbin decided he had "seen enough cows for the day" so he didn't want to go and since it was Christmas, no one wanted to go help so I volunteered. We got up to the bench and look what we found in the stack yard...They were fearless! There was a pretty big buck in there with them too, but I couldn't get a picture of him he was hiding on the other side of the round bales.

When we got done feeding the cows we got home and it was time for a nice dinner with just my family. We had a nice turkey and lots of yummy food and dessert to go with it! We had everyone there but Brynn's family and Jeremy's family (they were sick :(...).

My dad holding Kyri

McKinzee holding Kyri, she is getting so grown up!

Paxton was so cute he wanted to hold Kyri everyday, but she was cranky every time he would ask so we finally found a time where he could hold her! He was so happy!

Olivia, Zaylee Jo, and Kyri... she is hiding :)

My dad with little Porter Davis Mabey. We were so happy that Jordan and David could come up from Salt Lake for a few hours on Christmas day and see everyone! I finally got to meet little baby Porter! He is such a little doll and we are so happy that he is home from the hospital and thriving! He is so darn cute, he pooped on me and I couldn't even be mad he is such a sweet baby! We were sad we didn't get to see a lot of my brother Jeremy and his family because he had to work and his kids were sick with RSV and such, so they opted to stay away from the little babies but we did get to see them at the big family gatherings.

Little Kannen, he was such a hoot... we don't know why, but he was enthralled with walking around with hands in his pockets.. he is such a little farmer at heart already.. all he can talk about is "tra-ders" (tractors). He loves Michael.. he isn't so fond of me .. that will change though :) All the rest of the pictures are the beautiful "White Christmas" that we had.. we woke up to a little bit of fog and all the beautiful frost on the trees! It was so beautiful especially when the sun finally came out so I had to take pictures with my new camera :)

This is probably my favorite picture so far of Kyri and I :) We made it back to Laramie safe and I had to work all that next week. For New Years we babysat for another couple because they had to go help with a stake dance for the young men and young women, we still had fun, but New Years isn't really a huge deal for us anyways so it was ok :) It is my birthday here in a few days and I can't believe I will be 22! So OLD!!! Haha I never thought I would have a wonderful husband and beautiful baby girl at this point in my life but I am so glad that I do, I can't imagine life without them! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Halloween, Thanksgiving, and in between! Lots of Pictures!

2010-12-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

Holy smokes have I fallen behind! Well for Halloween Michael and I were pretty lame, we didn't really have time or energy to dress up! Having a baby is hard! We went to a Halloween party at Frank and Michelle Micheli's and Kyri got to come too! She was a cute little ghost as you can see in the pictures below :) It was such a cute outfit!
My mom gave us a Halloween funfetti cake when she came when Kyri was born so we made it on Halloween and took this picture for my mom. She is also wearing a bib that says "My first Halloween" that my mom got her! Halloween is Michael's dads birthday so we sent him a picture too saying happy birthday with the cake and Kyri :)

The next big thing that happened this month was Kyri's blessing! I was surprised that so much of our family could make it! My parents came, and they brought three of my nieces, then there were my two sisters who live in Laramie and my cousin came up with his family from Colorado! Michael's two sisters came with their kids and hi brother as well as his dad! We were so happy so many people could come on such short notice!

Me and my beautiful mother cooking food for everyone before the blessing!
Our little angel! My sister Jordan let me borrow her daughters blessing dress because I didn't have one and she felt bad that she wouldn't be able to come!! What a lifesaver!

Kisses from Kristie and Dino:)

Kyri in her "Fancy Nancy" outfit from Kristie

November flew by between having a new baby and school and eventually going back to work! I started back at work the week of Thanksgiving and then that Wednesday we took off for Lovell to spend Thanksgiving with Michael's family. Of course a huge storm moved in during that whole week so the roads were a little sketchy in some places on the way there! We got there and just spent the night at Kristie's house with everyone. The next day was Thanksgiving and we had an AMAZING lunch at Aunt Gail's house, I definitely ate WAY too much! Then we played some Bingo for prizes and just sat and visited. Kyri looked so cute in her little "Gobble Gobble" Thanksgiving outfit :)

We also helped Michael's brother Toby get some stuff moved into his new house. The next day we just kind of relaxed and had fun with each other. The boys went and played basketball and the girls just stayed home and we watched a movie. Also that night we had Pizza on the Run which is always something I make Michael get when we are in Lovell, it reminds me of Rent a Flick pizza which is way better than the big chain pizza places! The next day we went up to Billings to see Michael;s brother Matt and his family since we haven't seen their new baby yet! She is such a doll! The next day we had to head for home.. once again in a terrible snow storm and what should have been a 6 and a half hour trip turned into about a 9 and a half hour trip. The roads from Billings to Buffalo were TERRIBLE! Never again! But we made it home safe and sound, and now its back to the grind! All of my finals for classes are due this week and Michael's are all due next week. It will be nice to have a break from school for a month so we can just work and relax with the baby! She has been pretty colicky and sad sometimes but she is doing a little better now, she is catching a little cold though and it makes me sad... her little coughs are so cute but I know they hurt her and her poor little nose is stuffy but hopefully she gets better soon!

My sister Jordan also had her little baby boy the day before Thanksgiving and that poor little guy is going through some hard times. He had the umbilical chord wrapped around his neck, and swallowed some amniotic fluid and that was just the start of the problems. He also was a week and half early and even though he weighed just as much as a normal baby would, his lungs were like those of a premature baby, they were underdeveloped and he was working too hard to breath and punctured his right lung. They got that semi resolved and then found out he had pneumonia! He is slowly taking baby steps in the right direction, but if anyone reads this... prayers would sure be appreciated for their family right now!

These are just some of the pictures from the last month.

She makes me laugh it looks like she is in deep thought!

Waiting for daddy to get home from work

She cracks us up with this! She is always sleeping with her hands like this.. we think it looks like she is trying to scare someone :)

She is such a daddy's girl already

Gotta love those smiles! Have a nice day!

Kyri June Collins!

2010-10-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

Mostly I am writing this all down for myself so if you don't want all of the details you can just skip and look at pictures :) Talk about false alarms! At midnight on the 7th of Oct. we went to the hospital hoping to come back with a baby! Obviously this did not happen! I was having regular contractions every 5 minutes but we had a TERRIBLE nurse so I got sent home without a baby. Michael called her Know it all Norma... she was just awful! Well I went to my Dr. appointment later that day and they said I was definitely in the early stages of labor. So on midnight of the 8th we went back to the hospital. Michael really didn't want to go because we had already been told to leave, fortunately Norma was gone! And even better news they let me stay and have a baby! I was having really painful contractions every 3 minutes at this point in time so they gave me some medicine to help me sleep at least and not feel the pain as much. The rest of the day was kind of a blur. Mostly I slept because of the drugs, and every so often they would come in to see how far I was dilated. As soon as I got to a 4 they broke my water and then I really came to know what a painful contraction feels like! I think that was probably the most painful 30 minutes of my life until they gave me an epidural. Yes I am a sissy and there was no way that I could have done it without drugs! There was one slight problem. The anesthaesia only wanted to go to my right side and not my left for some reason. So they gave me some more, and it kicked in a little bit, but then my right leg was pretty nonfunctional when I actually had to start having the baby. It was actually pretty funny for the nurses and Michael I am sure. Anyways I only had to push for about 20 minutes and out she came! 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 19 inches long and LOTS of dark hair! She is so perfect! The delivery went so good just like the rest of my pregnancy, I have been so blessed! She is 3 weeks old as of tomorrow and I can't believe how fast it has gone by and how big she is already! She has gained at least a pound and grown at least an inch!

We couldn't decide whether we wanted to name her Kyri June or Ellie June so her name tag was blank until we decided the next day! I guess she just looked like a Kyri. She is named after Michael's mom... Shirley June, and we love her to death. I'm sure Michael's mom kissed her goodbye and sent her down here to be with us!

I know I look rough.. it was a long day but she was definitely worth it!

She had some pretty high billi levels the day we left the hospital so she had to stay in this little mini "tanning" bed for 4 days till her billi levels went down. I guess getting Jaundice is pretty common for babies especially at high elevations, I knew she would get past it eventually, but it still broke my heart that she had to stay in there even when she was crying... She hated being in there.

She is also a little confused with her nights and days. She thinks that you are supposed to sleep all day and be awake all night. This was really bad the first 2 weeks but she is getting a little better. She also loves to suck on her fists so Michael was trying to keep her awake during the day by keeping her fists away from her mouth. Needless to say she was NOT happy! She is doing a little bit better now.. enough to where we might get 4 hours of sleep at night anyways!

She is definitely a daddy's girl and she also has Michael wrapped around her finger! She likes to snuggle dad while he plays xbox and mom gets a break to take a nap or clean the house! Look at all the dark hair!

I had to take this one because she was grabbing Michael's arm and snuggling it! Too cute!

Not only does she love to suck on her fist, but it is turning into sucking on her thumb now too! We are trying to break that before it becomes a habit!

She loves to giver her daddy kisses!

I love this cute little bumble bee outfit and my sister in law made me tons of cute bows but there was a yellow one with pink polka dots that matched this outfit perfect so I had to get her all dressed up and take a picture for my sister in law! Too cute!

Thats our little angel! We are so happy she is finally here and healthy and that everything went ok! She is a little drama queen sometimes, or maybe diva is a better word I'm not sure, but she is definitely spoiled. She looks so much like Michael it is not even funny! She got to go home and meet all the family on my side, and then hopefully for Thanksgiving we can make it up to Lovell/Billings so she can meet all of Michael's family! Being a parent is so much fun and I can't believe how much Michael and I love this little girl, it is like she has just been part of our family the whole time! I'm so lucky to have an amazing husband who is so helpful, and I am also blessed to have a job that will allow me to work around Michael's schedule so we don't have to put her in a day care when I go back to work! That is all for now! Sorry it is such a long post, but it took me 3 weeks to get geared up to even post about our beautiful little girl, so I figure I might as well get it all out!

Crazy Weekend!

2010-09-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

What a Crazy weekend!!! Even though I only have 3 weeks left in this pregnancy, Michael and I decided to make a quick trip to the valley for the weekend. We got to watch Dino play football against Lyman and he did so awesome! He is such a stud even though he won't ever admit it, so I will brag for him I guess ;) We got to see Keela and Kristi so that was alot of fun! We were getting all packed up to turn around and head back for Laramie the next morning, but got to go help get a cow out of my brothers yard instead! We finally got on the road and back to Laramie in time to go watch Boise State beat up on our poor Cowboys. It was a terrible game.... so terrible that we left at half time. I have never seen that stadium so full! So we came home ordered a pizza and watched the second half on TV, not that it was any less painful, but at least I didnt have to stand by any crazy drunk fans! Now in the mean time... my brother was trying to pull a fast one over on my family... too bad I pretty much have this 6th sense to know what was going on, but it turns out that while we came home for a visit, he ran off with Amy and they got married!!!!!! I had a feeling it was going to happen because he told me he wasn't coming to the football game anymore and running away with his girlfriend to Jackson for the weekend. I asked him why and all he would say is.... "It's a Secret".. and I knew right away (or at least I like to think that I knew ;) ) So I have a new sister in law now and I'm so excited!!! We love Amy to death!! I am a little sad because they are having an open house reception type thing on Oct. 2nd, but I think that is cutting it a little too close to be traveling for that when my baby would be due a week or so after!! Everyone keeps asking if my family is upset that they "eloped" for lack of a better word but we couldn't be happier! We all knew it was going to happen eventually so it wasn't really a question of "if" but "when". I guess we have our answer now!! So that brought our crazy fun filled weekend to a close and now it is back to the real world!

Busy Bees!

2010-09-10T21:33:00.000-07:00

Holy Smokes are we ever busy! We both started school a couple weeks ago. We are both full time, I am taking 18 credits and Michael has 15 most of which are online. We both have one class on campus so that we can work full time and save up money for a baby! Some exciting news... Michael got a job working at Gem City Bone and Joint in Physical Therapy! I am soooooo happy! We're hoping that soon he can stop working at Walmart altogether so we don't have to worry about him never having a day off! Right now he works MOnday-Thursday at Gem City and then a few night shifts and weekends at Walmart. I am working about 40 hours a week until this little girl decides to get here and it is pretty exhausting, but then I will have a nice little break from that, but go into being a full time mom instead! As far as pictures I posted one of my belly at 36 weeks! I can't believe I only have 4 more weeks until this little girl gets here, maybe even sooner!! Also, MIchael and I went mini golfing here in Laramie, it was pretty fun and to top it all off we both got a hole in one on the last hole so we both got a free game!!!! Thats all the update I have for now!

Visit to Lovell! 1st Anniversary!!

2010-08-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well Michael FINALLY got some days off from work so we took off to Lovell for 4 days and it was such a nice break!! We left Friday and didn't have to come back until Tuesday! We got in late on Friday night, and the next day we watched Michael's nephew Dino play baseball. It was Babe Ruth State I think? Anyways, they played Rock Springs and lost in the game before the championship but Dino did really great! I think they only lost by 2 runs in the last inning. Then we all went out to Horseshoe Bend to play in the water! It was really fun the little kids had a blast. I got some terrible sunburn/tan lines, but overall it was a great time. Michael's sister Heather brought her family down from Billings, and his brother Matt brought his family from Billings too! It was great to see everyone. Sunday we just relaxed and spent time with the family. We had a nice dinner up at Glynn and Joyce's house that night. Monday we just relaxed and it was GREAT!!!! We don't get to do that very often. Michael helped his dad try and fix his truck and then we had some yummy pizza on the run for dinner! Tuesday we had to leave in the morning to get back in time for Michael's softball game. Thanks for the great weekend everybody!

28 weeks!

We also celebrated our first anniversary on July 31st. It was such a fun day! Michael got the day off so we went to Ft. Collins and ate at Rodizzio Grill. OH MY GOSH WAS IT GOOD!!!! Then we went and saw the movie Inception. Then that night at my request we got to go get a Frosti from Wendy's! We also bought an Ipod touch for a present for each other. We have actually been saving up for one since March, but we thought maybe our anniversary could be a good excuse to finally get it! We only have 9 more weeks until out little one is here and we are so excited! It has been a great year for us and we hope to have a ton more!

Fourth Of July (Just a couple weeks late!)

2010-07-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

For the 4th, I headed to Mtn. View with my sister. Michael unfortunately had to work all weekend so once again he missed out on being with all my family! Hopefully soon he will not have to work at WalMart anymore! Well, we had a huge Walker family reunion on the 2nd and 3rd up at the Graham Place. It was pretty fun, it was my Grandpa Walker and his siblings and all their posterity so needless to say I didn't know half of the people there! We had alot of family there though that I haven't seen in a long time so that was pretty fun! There were alot of pregnant people up there besides me, I can't believe how huge our family is getting. Also my cousin who was supposed to be there ended up not coming because his wife had their cute little baby a week or two early! We did some relays and I definitely got soaked being at the front of the water relay but my team dominated!!We had dinner on Friday night and then Breakfast Saturday morning, then the rest of Saturday we just kind of relaxed and had some family time. All of my siblings were there Saturday night so we tried to get a few pictures with everyone since you don't get all 7 of us together very often. In fact, the only people we were missing in one of the pictures was Michael, my newphew Kannen, Nathan, and my nephew Payton, (and obviously my parents who were taking the pictures).

For those of you who know my brothers and sisters, we don't take many good pictures thank you to my oldest brother accompanied by his 2 younger brothers who tease and make everyone laugh the whole time, so this is the best picture I could find. While we had everyone there we played a little game of family kickball and we even got my dad to play!

Sunday we all went to church together and then waited for the fireworks. We watched them from in front of my Grandpa's house since they were in Mtn. View this year, they were pretty good and they lasted for 15 minutes! By this time I was really missing my honey so I dragged Olivia out of bed pretty early Monday morning so I could get back to Michael. We got into Laramie around 11:00 and then Michael and I went up past Centennial to go fishing and hiking! It was really fun! We didn't catch anything, those fish were pretty content to jump in front of us to eat flies, but not worms, so we just relaxed. It was a really fun weekend. I can't wait until Michael has a few days off so we can go see his family and camp in the Big Horns. Oh and side note, a little baby update, she is healthy and growing and kicking like crazy, sometime when I find my camera cord I can put belly pictures on here since I'm 28 weeks now! We are on the downhill slope and I can't believe she will be here in about 3 months!

Just an Update

2010-06-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

We are pretty boring here. We have been stuck in Laramie all summer because WalMart hates Michael I think. Not only that but he always has to work weekends so we can't really go camping or do anything fun like that. For Fathers Day we got Michael a bike so now we can go on rides together! At least that way I won't feel like I am being a lazy pregnant lady not getting any physical activity! We had Michael's nephews come stay with us this week for UW wrestling camp. We had a good time and I hope they did too! Other than that we are just hanging out! I started a summer class online and I don't really like it, but I have to take it so I guess I'll just have to deal with it! I'm about 24 weeks which means I only have about 16 weeks left! The baby moves like crazy already, she is going to be out of control when she comes out! It is so weird to think that we only have about 3 1/2 months left by ourselves! Oh well! We are going to Michael's friends wedding this weekend in Douglas. I am excited because I have never really been to that part of the state before, it'll be an adventure! Thats about all for now!

ITS A GIRL!!!

2010-05-30T12:05:00.001-07:00

We had the ultrasound on May 25th (Happy Birthday to Jordan ;) ) and found out we are having a little baby girl! We are so excited! She is due sometime in October, around the 12th! I want her to be born on the 10th so her birthday can be 10-10-10! Michael said I will have to be in charge of disciplining though because he can't spank little girls or anything like that. I told him she would have him wrapped around her finger :) My mother has already started buying stuff for her and I think she is probably going to be a little bit spoiled! In other news, Michael has finally decided he wants to be a teacher so he has about 3 years of school left to get that done! I'm so happy he chose that and I think he will really enjoy it! Other than that we just moved into a new place that has 2 bedrooms for when our little girl gets here and we are just working for the summer!

FIRE!

2010-04-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! On Saturday it was my nephews 2nd birthday. We went to the spring football game for UW even though it was puring rain and then we had cake and ice cream with my sister and her cute little family. Later that night we were sitting at Levi and Willy's house when I got a phone call from my dad. I was slightly confused because I knew I hadnt' missed his birthday.. it was Saturday and his birthday was on Sunday..

well that is when I got the bad news... thank you to the Assembly of God church next door, my dad is now short about 300 round bales of hay. What started out as burning some leaves and grass on their part turned into ruining hours of hard work raising a crop and all the work involved in cutting, raking, bailing and stacking 300 round bales into 4 tripods on our part. Oh and can I also mention that my brother and his family can't live in their brand new house for a few days because of the extensive smoke damage? Or that the road was closed between Urie and Mtn. View because of the smoke? Or that... the pastor didn't feel the need to make any attempt at an apology to anyone involved , firefighters, my dad, my brother, all the people who came to help save the rest of the hay..? I'm glad my parents live in a small community where they had so many friends and neighbors who brought tractors to help save the hay and their love support and prayers, maybe the church will feel the need to apologize sometime. Fortunately my parents are more christian than I am and don't have as harsh of feelings as I do, but hopefully it will be a good year for hay so that they can make up some of what was lost.

I pulled the pictures up to show Michael and Levi and Levi asked if these were the volcanoes in Iceland... nope that is my dad's stackyard :(

Here is a picture of what they managed to save.

4 tripods of hay... gone... almost 300 bales.

Now you can see why the road was closed. And how my brothers house has extensive smoke damage as well as his cars, all their clothes, and furniture.

My poor dad :( Probably the worst birthday present he has had in a while. It is still burning and probably will be for a few more days.

Update! Easter, etc!

2010-04-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

It has been too long! Just a little update I'll try to keep it short. For spring break Michael had to work so I went home to Mtn. View for a couple of days! It was a much needed break from school, work, and Laramie in general. I got to see all of my brothers and sisters although this meant I took a trip to Salt Lake so I could see Jordan since we missed each other by a couple of days. I didn't really do too much at home, just relaxed but that is ok because that is all I wanted to do. I did have a run in with the crazy dog lady next door where I got chewed out for helping my neice and nephew try to find their dog. All she could say was "I hope that min pin doesn't get in with my dogs or they will eat it alive".... thank you crazy dog neighbor lady but I don't think a min pin is going to jump your 5 ft. fence to get in and play with your dogs. Then it was back to Laramie.... that night I got back Michael and I went to Denver to eat dinner with my brother Devin. I got stuck in traffic for over an hour trying to get home... I forgot everyone likes to go out and party on St. patricks day so that was a fun drive home to say the least. Then for Easter Michael got a few days off so we drove up to Billings/Lovell to spend some time with his family. We had fun but it was a long drive and not a long enough stay. Now we are just back to school and work and can't wait for this semester to be over! We are looking for a new place to live A; because we make too much money to live in our apartments we are already in and B: we just want a bigger place, 1 bedroom is a little too small! Only 3 and 1/2 more weeks and school is out for summer, although we both have to take summer classes. The good news is they are online so we can still work and enjoy our time off! Thats all the update I have for now!

State Wrestling Preview

2010-02-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

This weekend we get to get out of Dodge and go to Casper to watch Michael's nephew Dino wrestle! We are really excited! He is such a stud so we are glad we get to watch him and to see a lot of Michael's family! He ended up taking 3rd at regionals and we hope he can do better at state! I'll post an update of how it goes when we get back!

Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

What a fun weekend! Michael and I were able to go to Mtn. View this weekend to spend a little time with my family! My family has this tradition for Valentines Day (although we decided we haven't done so good at this "tradition" since its been about 13 years since the last one!) of something called the Love Nest Cafe. I think this was a first time for alot of my brother and sister in laws and nieces and nephews but it was a hit! A nice prime rib dinner for Valentines Day! My whole family was able to be there except for Devin but his girlfriend Amy and her little boy Cameron were able to come so he was represented :) We also had my sister in laws sister with us too and it is always fun to see her when we go for a visit!

Anyways not that anyone really reads this but the Love Nest Cafe is where you have a menu with a bunch of weird names like Fabio's Elixir of Love or Cupids Quiver and Arrows just Valentiny names for different foods. The trick is there are 12 items on the menu. You're first order you pick 4 numbers and you have no idea what you are going to end up with! You might get prime rib in this years case, a thing of butter, a drink and a thing of ranch dressing. So your next order you can get 4 more things hoping for some silverware to eat with or a salad to go with your ranch dressing! It is fun to try and figure out what each thing is on the menu with the process of elimination and possibly some cheating by looking at other peoples orders!

We did do a few other things while we were in Mtn. View like going to visit my Grandma Davis.. she always has a few inappropraite stories to tell so there is never a dull moment with her! I also got to play volleyball with my sister and a few of her friends Thursday night when we got into town, and of course we had to get Rent a flick pizza so I could prove to Michael that is is really better than stinkin Pizza on the Run ;) We set up a little Valentines Day treasure hunt for the little kids and somehow little Kannen ended up with a blue ring pop from this and ultimately a blue face, hands, tongue, clothes, hair, etc.!

We have also been having car problems aka my gear shifter completely broke off. Luckily we got it fixed just in time for the weekend to drive home, only to discover that A: we had no heater on the trip home.. FREEZING and B: that some belt was about to break in the car so we ended up bringing my brother's truck back to Laramie instead of my Love Boat Lincoln Town Car.

I'm not sure what we will do for our actual Valentines Day date since its on a Sunday but Michael did come home from work with a beautiful pink rose for me! He must love me or something? Well thats all for now!

Back Into the Groove!

2010-01-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I am finally getting around to updating this thing! We had a short but nice Christmas break up in Lovell/Billings. We were with Michael's family so it was my first Christmas away from home... it was hard the first day but I love his family so much and they made it a great Christmas for me! It was fun to do their traditions and see all the little kids excited about opening the presents! Then it was back to the real world. With our jobs, we don't really get to have any long breaks :(

I started school again on the 11th. Michael is just working this semester so we can save up some money and send him to school full time in the fall to get his associates! I am also changing my major so that I can graduate next May! The kinesiology and health program here has definitely not been good to me and I feel like I wasted alot of time to get nowhere :( Oh well thats life I guess!

I'm running around like crazy working 30 hours a week and going to school full time, add my church calling on to that and I don't really have alot of spare time. For my birthday Michael got me P90X since I never have time to go to the gym to workout this way I can work out at home. I've heard its kind of a kick in the shorts but I'm excited to get going with it! I'm also teaching myself to knit and crochet. I'm not the best but it is coming along! Well thats all the update I have for now!

Changes

2009-12-04T21:00:00.000-08:00

Lots of changes! I am going to be cutting back my hours at school and only taking 12-13 credits and working about 30 hours a work so that Michael can take classes and work less. The exciting news is...... I got "promoted" if you will, to the manager of medical records at Gem City Bone and Joint! Mostly that is just fancy for... everything fell into place, they needed someone to do it and I could use the raise :) I didn't get into my last 2 years in the kinesiology and health program so I am having to reroute and rethink how to get through school in the next year and a half. More details to come later I'm sure!

Holidays

2009-11-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

I LOVE THANKSGIVING! Michael and I spent it in Mtn. View again this year and it was so awesome! My ENTIRE family was there all my siblings and all their children and spouses and of course my amazing parents, we even got to steal Levi from his family and it was great to have him around he's just like part of the family. We got together with the Davis side on Thanksgiving day never a dull moment with them. Then the next day we had a party with the Walker side! Michael redeemed himself in this years turkey bowl and passed the name of "stonehands" on to someone else who shall not be named or I would probably get beat up! I'll be putting up pictures when I can steal them from my mom! I played in a volleyball tournament with my sisters and cousins on Saturday and I am still sore! It was a blast though. Then we had to head back to Laramie to finish out this semester. We will hopefully be going up to Lovell for Christmas and we're excited to be able to spend some time with Michael's family. I feel like we haven't seen them in way too long! I am also hoping to get our wedding pictures here sometime soon!

Callings!

2009-11-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we have been in our new ward since August and we had escaped any church callings thus far. That is, until about 2 weeks ago. I got called to be the 1st Counselor in the Young Womens presidency! Talk about shocking! Of all the things I could have been asked to do that was probably at the bottom of my list. Not that I didn't want to, I just didn't think I would be back in Young Womens so soon! I was pretty scared at first and some of the girls probably think I am a little weird but I think it will turn out good once I get settled in. As for Michael.. I'm not at liberty to say yet because it hasn't been made official so I will keep you all in suspense until after Sunday! We are excited to head to Mtn. View for Thanksgiving! Michael promises to do better in the Turkey Bowl this year. ( I just think he doesn't want to keep the nickname "stonehands") thats all for now!

2009-11-10T08:22:00.000-08:00

2009-11-10T08:15:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I finally decided to get one of these going! Michael and I got married this summer on July 31st. Not a whole lot has happened since then. We have just been living the married life going to school and working. I am waiting to hear weather I get into the last year and a half of the Kinesiology and Health Program and Michael is working on his associates at LCCC. I will probably be going insane for the next few months because the new Call of Duty game came out last night at midnight. Michael stayed up playing it until about 3 in the morning! That was just day 1! Well that is all I can really think of for now! Hopefully I can get this all figured out and learn how to put pictures up and such. Hasta!