Merry Christmas

Too Cold!

We have a high of -5 F today in Rochester, MN, and the low is -15 F. With the windchill it feels like -30 F right now. There's been only a handful of times when I've felt colder than I did today running from the car to the building that I work in.

It wouldn't be so bad if we had a garage to keep our car a little warmer and less icy... We miss the warmer weather of Utah... and don't get me started on San Diego! I didn't even know what a windshield scraper was until I started going to BYU!

Do we have any sympathy? It's really cold!

Thanksgiving and Other Stuff

Andrew and I had so much fun in San Diego with his family this Thanksgiving. We got to go beach camping, play Ultimate in the rain, see the seals and look for cool shells for Necklaces at La Jolla, play some sweet games, etc. I love my in-laws! Here are some pictures:

Our sweet round of Jenga



Some cool pictures Rachel took of Andrew and I exploring at La Jolla



Cute pictures of Rachel and Chris that Rachel let me take with her sweet camera,
pretty sure she made the lighting all cool afterwards with her mad digital skills but still. Cute eh?



Adorable Sadie and Mark, by Rachel


New niece and nephew, Sadie and Jack, also taken by Rachel


Happy me

Grateful for Books and Technology!

I challenge anyone who reads this to post something on their blog, or send an email, that says something you are grateful for. It doesn't have to be as longwinded as mine...

-Andrew

Since it's getting near Thanksgiving time, I thought I'd talk about something that I recently realized how blessed we are to have: Books and technology!

On Sunday I borrowed an audio book from a friend at church. (I read a lot, but wanted an audio book because I love listening to books as well.) I went to my friend's house, and within a few minutes we had "burned" an entire audio book onto a single DVD. The audio book took up about 1/10th of the space on the DVD. That, to me, is amazing! There has been so much thought and work put into creating such powerful technology, it really is amazing when we step back and think of the incredible technology that we use every day. Modern day technology allows us to know more about the world around us than any other group of people throughout time, through television, internet, radio, Pod casts, Youtube, newspapers, cell phones, etc. We can almost effortlessly find research from great sources on specific subjects on the internet.

Knowledge has been extremely valuable and sought after throughout time. Before the printing press was invented knowledge was much more limited, because books were scarce. The ability to read was once rare, and books were also very rare and valuable. Monks would tirelessly transcribe the Bible and other important books, and owning such a book was a great privilege.

Now, the majority of people in the US are able to read books. Books can be printed in seconds, and the text of thousands of books could be held on the average home computer. Books are cheap, and are actually becoming outdated in many instances as the internet is used more and more.

It's incredible to be alive during such a time, when knowledge is so prevalent and easy to obtain. I am grateful for my education, my ability to read and obtain more knowledge, and the technology that surrounds my everyday life.

Note to self

Grating a huge, deep hole in the knuckle of your thumb with a cheese grater hurts and bleeds A LOT! Buy grated cheese from now on.
-Kim

Our Fun Fall Weekend

This last weekend Andrew and I took a tiny bit of time off work and went on our last Minnesota camping trip before it gets too cold! We borrowed a canoe from a friend and went up to Interstate Park. We had a blast! We canoed, fished, and camped. Interstate Park actually has rock climbing but it was SUPER crowded with rock climbers so we did not go this time. Next time for sure though, we miss it SO bad! And yeah, the scenery was beautiful! The colors of the leaves were gorgeous. We had such a wonderful time being in nature and basking in the beauty around us. :)

OHS Tennis!

AS many of you know, my little sister Wendy is on the JV OHS Tennis Team this year. Well, her and the rest of her JV squad took 2nd in regionals! And the Varsity team took 1st in State! That is SO awesome! Especially since we live in Utah County, Utah which is pretty darn competitive! I am so proud of Wendy for being a part of such an awesome team! Go Tigers!

Fall Outing

We do not have mountains here in Minnesota but there are some hills, so we hiked up one at Whitewater State Park so we could enjoy an overlook and see the pretty Fall leaves. It was beautiful! It was such an enjoyable hike with an awesome view. Autumn is so wonderful!

I Miss My Andrew!

I am in Utah visiting my family and spending time with my brother before he goes into the Marines. I am having a great time! But I miss Andrew SO much! He is so sweet, considerate, smart, wise, patient, hard-working, righteous and wonderful! I cannot even imagine a better husband, probably because there isn't one. ;) I love you Andrew! I am SO excited to see you soon!

Tag 6

Tony and Erica tagged us:
Here are the rules:
Link the person who tagged you.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.
Leave a comment to let them know.

1-We love making vegetable/fruit juice with our juicer
2-For some reason, most of my family and good friends get weird accents whenever they talk to me.
3-Andrew has become addicted to chocolate since we got married :)
4-We are both obsessed with houses, land, franchises, business ideas, etc. that we would like to pursue someday.
5-I like weird baby names
6-Andrew has the most amazing memory in the world. He remembers every detail about everything! It's weird.

We tag Becca, Brian, Jen, Brandon, Monica, and James :)

Autumn is coming!

And I am SOOOO excited! I love the Fall! It's my favorite! :) It means beautiful colors on the trees, cool crisp air, cute sweaters, and holidays! Yay!

Growing Up!

I am so proud of my sibilings. My baby sister Wendy is going into H.S. this year and she just got through High School's tennis team tryouts, and she made the team!!!! Woot Woot! Way to go Wendy bum! Also, my younger brother Greg just joined the Marine Corps! Whoa! I'm very proud of both of them!

I wasn't tagged, but here I go...

I wanted to do this, because Kim posts on the blog 95% of the time...

3 joys
-Family
-The feelings that reading the Scriptures and uplifting books bring
-The Outdoors

3 fears
-Failing to fulfill my most important dreams
-Public speaking and reading in front of people
-Kim being stuck driving in a blizzard without me, or something similar happening, when I'm not around to help her.

3 Current Obsessions/Collections
-Reading
-Thinking about the future
-Woodworking, but I don't have the space to make a woodshop

3 Surprising Facts
-I'm currently in the worst shape of my life, but we're getting a gym membership and that's all going to change.
-I make homemade wheat bread, and also have sourdough starter in the fridge that I use for sourdough bread.
-I've lived in the following states: California (A long time), Utah (A few years in college and the first 5 months of being married to Kim), Kentucky (10 months), Minnesota (8 months so far), West Virginia (6 months), Ohio (4 months), Indiana (4 months). Also... Since we've been married (1 year), we have driven our Ford Escape through parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. We may have driven into part of Wisconsin, but I'll need to ask Kim, if not, we are going camping over there in 2 weeks anyway... That is more than 10% of the United States that we have driven our car through!

I want my nephew, Tyler to do this, if his mother (Emily) reads this, she'll need to help him answer the questions, and probably type for him too...

Tagged

I have been tagged by my cousin-in-law, Kelsie. I am supposed to post 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, and 3 surprising facts and then tag 5 other people. So here I go:

3 joys
-The gospel
-Husband and families
-Utah and California

3 fears
-Living in Minnesota forever
-Getting attacked by a scary person or animal
-Driving in the snow

3 Current Obsessions/Collections
-Cookbooks
-Thinking about the future
-Getting back in shape

3 Surprising Facts
-I LOVE cooking but I don't do it as often as I would like because I HATE doing all the dishes by hand, no dishwasher
-My favorite movie of all time is Mary Poppins
-I don't know how to dive (but Sara's going to teach me!) :)

I tag Becca, Jen J., Monica, Haylee, and Vindie.

This & That

I am pretty much addicted to blogging. I love it! It is so much fun. I often find myself wanting to post pictures I find of how I would like to decorate my house someday, cute craft ideas, clothes, destinations I'd like to visit someday, etc. Things that Andrew agrees would be weird to post on our blog. So I created another blog as kind of a creative, girly, picture journal. You know when you're a kid and you like to cut out pictures from magazines that represent things you would like someday or things that help you express yourself, its kinda like that. I'm weird, I know. But anyways, feel free to check it out now and then if you would like. The link is http://kimsthisandthat.blogspot.com/

Floating Down the River!

We went to Lanesboro, MN this weekend with another couple that we're friends with and had such a blast! We went camping on Friday night, we talked, built a fire, had s'mores, all that good stuff. And on Saturday we walked around the town a little and went floating down the Root River. We floated for about 2 1/2 hours. It was really relaxing and SOOOOOO much fun! It was kind of a last minute trip. We would love to go every weekend if we could!

The Fair!

Andrew and I went to the Fair on Friday and it was so much fun! We mostly hung out with all the animals. :) These pictures are of a cute calf and I, Andrew and a goat that kept baa-ing at him :), and animals in cute positions that Andrew wanted to capture on film. :) So cute and fun!

Happy Anniversary to us!

We have been married for one whole year as of today and are happier than ever! We feel very blessed to have had all of the experiences we've had together. Our love for one another is increasing every day and we are so happy to be married and to be able to share eternity together. Here are a few pictures of us during our first year.

We like to Babysit!

A couple in our ward was going out of town for a few days and they asked us to babysit their 4 kids. It was kind of overwhemling at times just because we went from 0 kids to 4, but it was also SO much fun! We loved it! We made Brownies, had a BBQ, built a water slide, had movie/game nights, etc. The kids are SO awesome! I took some pictures of the waterslide extravaganza. Here they are. :)

Some of the Family Visit Pics

New Cookbook!

I heard awesome reviews about this cookbook and I couldn't resist! I ordered it through amazon.com (money saver) and I LOVE it! I highly recommend it to everyone!

Family!

My parents, Aunt Becky and little seester Wendy came to visit and we had such a blast! We drove around Rochester, had a couple of BBQs, walked along some trails, went to the Mall of America, Harmony (Amish town), Nauvoo, and to Mark Twain's hometown in Missouri. I am trying to gather pictures from everyone's cameras (and trying to figure out how to download the pics from our camera onto the computer). And as soon as I do, I'll post them! :) We had such a blast! We miss and love you guys and am sorry Greg and Jeff couldn't come but can't wait to see them next visit! :)

Nephew and Niece!

Andrew's sisters Angela and Becca both had babies recently. In fact both within one month's time. They are so precious! We are so excited for their families! They both have wonderful parents! Here they are: Jack and Sadie! (I took these pictures from your email and blog Angela and Becca, I hope that's ok).

Puppy Name Change

So... remember how I posted about being super puppy hungry and said I wanted to name my dogs Walter and JackJack? Well, Andrew's sister recently had a baby named Jack and they nick named him JackJack. :) And we probably shouldn't give our dog the same name as our nephew, so we decided that in place of JackJack, we want to name one of our dogs Moose. :) We think and talk about silly things sometimes. Andrew suggested that Moose should be a pug, and I agreed.

Our Trip!!!!

As many of you know, Andrew and I went to the Boundary Waters last week. We just got back last night. It was a blast!!!! We had a lot of mishaps i.e. the camera fell in the water and is now broken, we lost the knife in the lake and Andrew had to clean the fish with a dull axe, we ran out of yummy food, and then ran out of food altogether, and we each have about 150-200 mosquito bites, no exaggeration. But it was so worth it! We had so much fun! The Boundary Waters are beautiful! It was such an awesome experience to just bask in the Lord's incredible creations. The whole trip was very physically demanding with all of the rowing in the canoe, and the portaging (getting out of the canoe and carrying everything while hiking to another part of the lake to avoid the rapids). But it was a very nice break for the mind and the soul. :) We loved it and definitely want to go again. Next time we'll do a few things differently now that we have been there once before. :) So so so so so so fun! We totally recommend it, but be prepared! Since our camera broke, we do not have any of our own pictures, but I searched and found pictures on the internet that are very similar to what we caught, saw and did! :) ( By the way, the fish in order from top to bottom are Northern Pike, Small Mouth Bass, ans Walleye).