A Quick Catch-Up

Well, the last time I posted I was five weeks away from the due date of our first baby and he is 18 months now. I guess it is time for a quick catch-up. And I hope I can be more consistent with my posting. As of now, our little Buddy is 18 months old and such a fun, busy part of our lives! He learns so fast and has such a wonderful, unique personality! I wish I could share a day with each person so that everyone can see how great he is (even with the few tantrums, haha.) Also, we are five weeks from the due date of our next little one joining the family (what a coincident!). Bubby and I are so excited! Little Buddy probably doesn't know how much his life is going to change. Everyday life is focused a lot on him and it will for sure be an adjustment for him to share his mom and dad all the time. But I just know that he will love his little brother so much. :D

This is what our family is like right now. (Buddy is usually as happy as he looks in this picture!) It really has been a wonderful blessing having each member of our family together. I wouldn't trade this life for anything!

And this is a picture of me from a week and a half ago. I'm not sure if I'm ready to have this little one join us. Haha. Don't get me wrong, I am in love with him already but my life (and Bubby's) will change just as much as little Buddy's will. We all can use more love in this world so, in that sense, it will be wonderful to have him come. However, life is only going to get busier with two little boys to chase around. :D This pregnancy has been great! So far, I have been blessed with easy pregnancies and not much to complain about. The only thing that is a lot different from my first pregnancy is that my feet don't swell hardly at all. (And that might have to do with the fact that I am not standing as a teller all day.)

Besides our growing family, we have had some other changes in our life. First, I am no longer going to school because I graduated this last May!! It is so nice not having to worry about my homework and figuring out what to do with Buddy while both Bubby and I are in class. Now, I get to help my wonderful husband whenever he needs me. :) I will be helping him a lot since he is in his third year and on the road to getting his Doctorates in Spanish. He still wants to teach Spanish but instead of the high school level, he is working toward being a college professor! It will be quite to journey! :)

Our work life has changed some, too. I am no longer working as a teller. Now, I have to joy of staying home and raising Buddy (and his future brother). Bubby still does his metal salvaging but it is more of a side job that he can do when we need it. Honestly, it is a nice thing to have to fall back on. It is just harder for Bubby to do during the cold winter (not that this year has been particularly cold). For a more consistent income, Bubby is also working for a local division of the YMCA. He is part of the after school programs and is really loving it! Also, I have recently become a consultant for Usborne Books and More. :D This company sales books for young readers from newborns to high schoolers. I absolutely love the books that they have and becoming a consultant allows me to build our home library as well as share the love and fun of reading to others. So if anyone is looking for a great birthday/holiday gift for the young ones in your life, get them a book (from me!). ;)

Spiritually, we have been doing well I think. We have truly grown to love our ward here and enjoy being a part of it. Bubby has been the Elder's Quorum President for about a year and a half now. He works hard at his calling and has really enjoyed getting to know all the Elders here. I am a Family History Consultant and I have really been loving it! This calling has really helped me to get started on doing work for my ancestors on my dad's side of the family. There is lots to be done and I think I've had a fairly good start. It has been great to share the temple work with my parents and siblings! We have had some wonderful temple experiences together. :D Now it is getting to the hard part that I will need a lot of the Lord's help to do!

Life Keeps Coming!

Wow...  I am really getting bad at keeping this up to date! But I am hoping that I will have more of an opportunity to post in the future.  I am not planning on really having more time just a different schedule. :)

Since January life definitely hasn't stopped.  Bubby and I finished another semester of school.  For my wonderful husband that makes two semesters down and a bunch more to go!  He had a fun time in his classes and I think he got wonderful grades!  For me that makes a bunch of semesters down and only two more to go!  I am super excited to be so close to finishing my first degree. :D  It will be so nice to be done for a while.  I plan on going back but only after Bubby gets further along with his education if not completely done.  As of right now Bubby is thinking about being a Spanish teacher at the high school level.  I think it would be a great job for him but we'll just have to see what he thinks of it in the future. :)  I am going to have my English degree with a Creative Writing emphasis and a Spanish minor.  There are a couple of things that I want to do with my education.  First, I want to use my English degree to write a biography about my dad.  He is such an inspiration to me and I want to explore his difficult life and share how far he has come!  That is one of the only reasons I am getting an degree in English.  Second, I think it would be so fun to translate/interpret for a job.  I don't want to work if it can be helped but it is definitely a great back up plan!  So there is the education part of our life.

Other than education, we have had some changes in our work life.  I am still working as a teller but that will change in the next month and a half. However, that isn't the biggest change.  Bubby was working for my dad at the beginning of the year but now he has changed his mind.  What he is doing now is starting up his new business.  It has been so great to see how happy and excited he gets to go out and work now!  He has started to salvage metal (or better known as recycle metal).  He goes around and picks up anyone's junk metal for free.  Then he either takes whatever he gets apart and takes only the metal in or takes things in whole and gets paid for them.  It has been quite the adventure coming home and first seeing my front room turned into a work zone, then the kitchen, and now the back patio.  I have somewhat chased Bubby to the patio.  The front room just isn't the best place to rip apart metals and such.  But the back patio works great.  :)  We are hoping that his business idea will be able to take off and really help out.  We will see how it goes as life keeps coming!

Now on to the more exciting part of life.  Babies and summer.  I am only five weeks away until our baby's due date.  I am hoping it will all work out because our little one is due the same week as high school volleyball tryouts.  This is a picture of me about 2 and a half weeks ago.  I am getting more and more excited to have this little guy in our home!
                                                  

This summer we have also been able to spend time with family and also a little camping and fishing.  Bubby loves to fish and he gets so excited to go.  It has turned out that we have gone nearly every weekend for short and long periods of time.  At first Bubby was really getting frustrated because everywhere we went there seemed to be no trout and that is what he loves to catch.  I was even starting to think that we wouldn't ever catch anything.  I haven't gone fishing really since I was way young, like elementary age.  But this last weekend we decided to go fishing yet again and spend some time together.  It was bit more successful then the past...  Ok so a lot more successful!

Bubby caught the first fish of the day....

Then I caught the next one.  These first few fishes were small mouth bass I think...

I was the one to catch our very first trout of the year!!  It was great!  I really don't like how it feels (all slimmy and wiggly) but I had to have proof that I caught something.  Haha.

Bubby wasn't far behind when he caught his Rainbow Trout too.  He was so so excited!  I am glad we finally got something to take home!

He really likes to focus and get serious when it comes to fishing.  It was a beautiful place where we were fishing.  We did get rained on and it completely soaked us. :)  But it was worth the time I got to spend with my amazing husband and seeing how happy he was!

Over all I think we can finally say that it was a successful trip!  We had two trout that were 14" and two that were 13".  The bass were super little but that's ok. :)

Some more exciting news is that I found out that Bubby's two sister's are expecting babies too.  I am pretty sure that is a record because that will make 7 babies born in my family in 8 months.  I have three sisters and three sisters-in-law (one just had her baby) plus myself that are due.  Baby number one was born at the end of June and the last baby will come hopefully by the second week of February!  I love babies and I am so excited that my little boy will have so many cousins to play with!!

I need to get ALL of the new pregnant mommies together for a picture... I only have one with my sisters. :)

Well that is a super quick version of my life with Bubby.  I hope I can post again really soon!

What a Year!

Well I have been slacking big time with my posting.  I meant to publish this post on New Year's Day.  Now that January is half over I figure I better find time to write.

This post is going to be about the last 12 months of Bubby's life and my life.  SO much has happened this year.  Our lives have changed for the better in so many ways!  I think the best way to go about this is month by month.

In January, Bubby got home from his mission in Honduras.  He fulfilled his mission in honor and hard work.  I am sure that the Lord is pleased with the way he served Him.  While Bubby was starting his adjustment into normal life, I was still in Guatemala starting my very last change (transfer) and worrying about how I would adjust to normal life.

Then in February, it was my turn to finish my mission.  I served the Lord to the best of my ability.  I also know, through the power of the priesthood, that the Lord is pleased with my work.  I came home and began my adjustment while helping plan my sister's wedding.  Bubby was job hunting and starting at the singles ward.  He found a temporary job and did well.

March was the start of "us".  After my sister's wedding things settled down a bit.  I headed to my MTC companion's homecoming mid-way through March and that's when I met Bubby.  We hit it off.  I was still on the hunt for a job.

In April I was hired on to be a head volleyball coach at a local high school.  Bubby found a more permanent job doing construction clean up.  We traveled to visit each other while we dated.

May was the month that Bubby purposed marriage and I said yes!  We started planning and getting ready for the wedding.

In June there were a few family reunions to enjoy and more wedding planning.

July was the biggest month for us.  It was the month of our sealing and the start of our eternity together.  We were able to travel a bit and relax.

In August we moved into our new apartment.  It just fell into place to get that apartment.  We also got ready for school to start.

September was the start of school.  Bubby was new to the college experience and it was the first time I had been back to school for two years.

October was a slow month and nothing much happened.

In November we had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with Bubby's family.

December brought a new surprise.  We found out that we will be parents in August!  Christmas was celebrated at my grandparents house.

So those are the highlights of the year 2012.  So many blessings came into our lives. We finished our missions, we met each other, we started eternity together, and we found out our family is going to grow!  So many big changes in our lives and each has brought us joy and happiness!  Hopefully 2013 will be just as amazing as this last one!

Day Eighteen

Today, I am so grateful for my health. There are so many health problems in the world. The problems could be physical, mental, etc. I am so glad that so far, I have been able to do everything that I want without any health issues! Thankfully I have the health! Bubby is healthier than I am and I'm so glad for that! :)

Day Seventeen

Today, I am grateful for the temples. We are so blessed here in America to have so many temples close. I love going to the temple and feeling the spirit that is there. It is the best thing ever to be there with Bubby. The Lord truly blesses us with his spirit and guidance when we go there regularly! I love the temple!

Day Sixteen

Today I am grateful for missions. Both Bubby and I were able to serve worthily for 2 years and 18 months respectively. I know that I learned SO MUCH from being among the Guatemalan people. I love them and all that they taught me! Bubby has also told me about how much he loves the people of Honduras! I am a witness to all that Bubby has learned. I am so grateful for these blessings!

Day Fifteen

Today I am so grateful for transportation! Walking everywhere would keep me in shape but it would take SO MUCH time! With cars and buses, I am able to get to where I need to be quickly and, therefore, get more done. :) Transportation is amazing!