The Amaryllis Baby Theory

Alright Folks we are on to week 38! Last week proved to be eventful when after my regular Monday afternoon checkup my Dr. informed me that I was dilated to a 3! Well after Jake dropped me back off at work I realized that I was bleeding pretty heavy so I called my nurse and asked her what I needed to do, she told me I needed to go to Labor and Delivery immediately.  When we got there they hooked us up to the monitor and discovered that I was having regular contractions about 3-5 minutes apart.  Unfortunately they weren't heavy enough for it to be considered full labor.:( So Jake and I departed with the nurse telling us that he could be 2 days out or possibly 2 weeks but there wasn't anyway of knowing.


So....my newest theory is the Amaryllis Baby Theory.

You see I have this Amaryllis that our sweet neighbor gave Jake and I for a wedding gift.  Unfortunately the first time it started to bloom I knocked it over while cleaning and broke it.
:(  Well we learned from another neighbor that if you cut them down to the bulb and put them in a cold dark place to keep them dormant they will bloom again. So I cut it down and a little while later sure enough it was ready to bloom just like they had told us. Unfortunately about that time we moved to Boise and the move did not treat our poor Amaryllis well so yet again we put it away and let it go dormant and brought it out to find that it grew beautifully but it did not produce any buds.:(  Alright this is when this story gets exciting people we are on to round 4 with this Amaryllis!

As you can see our Amaryllis is just about ready to bloom! Oh and yes that is our backyard all dug up! Jake has been working hard to get our sprinkler system in but more on that later. So my theory and how it relates to the baby is that I have a feeling that when the Amaryllis blooms the baby will come! For more proof I went to get a pedicure this weekend and the Asian lady that was doing my toes that did not speak any English told the Asian guy next to her to that she wanted to do a flower on my toes as a gift. Well what flower did she paint?!?!?! An Amaryllis! Obviously they don't give out fortune cookies because it's a nail salon and not a Chinese restaurant but I feel like she was trying to tell me something.

You see picture of an Amaryllis.... 

Picture of the Amaryllis on my toes.... Please disregard the rest of my feet and keep in mind that sausage toes come with the territory when you are 9 months pregnant!

So folks the moral of the story, expect this Baby boy to be here in 1-2 days MAX! I also just

 walked up and down the six flights of stairs at my work 3 times. If that's not giving fate a helping hand then I don't know what is. 

Sincerely, 

The girl with the baby belly that is going to pop in 1-2 days MAX!

The Nursery and a Baby Update!

Yay Baby E is almost here! On the 22nd I will be 37 weeks along however if Emerson would like to make his appearance on the 21st I would be A-OK with that!:) After all it does seem that 21 is a lucky number around our house with Jake's and my anniversary being December 21st and my birthday being October 21st we might as well have a baby with his birthday on the 21st.:) The last part of the pregnancy has gone fairly smoothly with the only big complaint being that I feel like a two ton heifer! For proof see the following pictures of me at 35 and a half weeks.:)  I really do hope that he comes soon though, the Dr. informed me a couple of weeks ago that he is going to be a big boy as in at least 9 and a half pounds big!

I finally finished the nursery! Well almost.:) The past few weeks I have been working on painting the map border around the room, adding the trim, looking for fun accessories to accent the room and sprucing up my grandma's glider...does it look familiar to anyone!? I am so excited about the glider and the fact that I will be spending so much time rocking my little boy to sleep in the same chair that I'm sure I was held in a time or two and that I have witnessed many babies being rocked to sleep in by my grandma.  I remember spending afternoon's sitting at my grandma's feet as a little girl and listening to her stories while she rocked in that chair. A couple of months after her funeral I found out that I was pregnant and my mom asked if I would like the glider.  The glider had definitely been well used over the years and luckily my dad was able to repair the broken arm and when I got it I reupholstered the cushions and had Jake help me stain it.  I am so pleased with the way it turned out and it is definitely one of my favorite parts of the room!

I want to instill in my kids a sense of adventure and a curiosity of the world.  Which is why I decided to do an adventure theme for Baby E's room. 

The flying planes are another one of my favorites!:) 

My grandma's glider!

I crossed off one more item on my baby to do list. I made some burp rags this weekend and I love how they turned out!:) 

Can't wait to meet you BABY E! 

Love, Mommy!

It's a BOY!

After weeks of wondering we just found out that our little peanut is a....

BOY!!!

During the Ultrasound the technician told us that our little boy was going to be very tall!...hmm I think we could have told her that one. ;) Apparently his legs and arms are dating 2 and a half weeks longer than the rest of the body and are in the 96% for his age.  We also found out that our son is very active, he kept kicking and turning and moving the whole time and it took us almost a hour to find out what we are expecting.  

We are so excited to welcome this little boy into our life in April! 

Big News!!!

Jake and I have some exciting news!

 I am PREGNANT! 

I am 17 weeks along and due April 13th, we are so excited for this little person to arrive.
We know that our lives are going to forever be changed and we are so excited to be parents!

We are scheduled to find out the big secret November 15th so stay tuned....  :)

Reno 911

Over Halloween weekend Jake and I had the opportunity to fly to Reno for a business trip.  It was so much fun and a very much needed break from the craziness of our "normal" lives. It was also the first time that Jake and I have flown together! Did I mention that I love being married? I thought that I would take my work bag and put in my hundred pound calculus book, seriously it is in a binder and I have to go try to find an even bigger binder because it barely fits. Luckily Jake decided it was his job to tot that bag around rather than to see me struggle/complain about it.  Oh and for those of you wondering it did not get opened once!:) My teacher thankfully moved back my test and I got to enjoy a wonderful, homework free weekend with my amazing husband!:)

For those of you that do not know, Jake has a serious addiction.... He is addicted to sushi.  Now you may think that I am kidding or being a little over dramatic but I'm not.  Jake has even taken up making sushi.  Yes we now own "sushi china", chopsticks and our very own bamboo rolling mats.  So when it came time for dinner he knew right away where he wanted to go: The Oceano. We originally ventured out to go to a piano bar, which Jake wanted to take me to, and when he spotted this restaurant he knew we had to go. 

Doesn't that look delicious! Oh and no that was not the end of the rolls for the night. Unfortunately I wasn't able to eat any............:) 

I did settle for a yummy salmon salad. The best part of the dinner was when the waiter brought out a large bowl on a saucer before he brought out the salad.  I told Jake I didn't order any soup and proceeded to lift up my spoon ----before Jake informed me that it was my salad dressing.

It was such a fun weekend and I am so lucky to be married to Jake! 

Fall Festivities

I have always loved fall! One of the things I miss most about home is Sardine Canyon, I loved driving and being able to admire the beauty of the changing seasons. I miss the smells of the farm---okay I don't miss the smell of silage. However, there is something about being on the farm and the naustalgic fragrance of the farm that takes me back to my childhood and reminds me of the coming festivities.  I also have another great reason to love the fall and that is my birthday. This year I thought I would be spending my birthday with Jake.  However, conveniently Emily's UEA weekend allowed her to come up and spend my birthday with me and she was able to bring my mom as well!:)

We had so much fun catching up (until 2 AM!--Emily apparently isn't used to going to bed early...yet), making lots of yummy food, going to the farmers market, a home show, and of course enjoying a FULL day of shopping!:)  Thanks mom and Emily for coming up and making my birthday amazing! Carin we missed you and I can't wait until we can all be together again!

Also thanks to my sweetheart for making me waffles and surprising me with presents and flowers! I love you so much!

I loved this first picture and that it is probably a more realistic look at what we normally look like.  That and the fact Jake kept snapping pictures until he finally got ONE where we were all paying attention.

The Farmer's Market is phenomenal in Boise! We all loved sampling all of the yummy food and checking out some of the fun booths. If you look closely you can see Kathleen and Kate who surprised us right after this picture. Kathleen was also able to come stay with us for a couple of days and it was so much fun to be able to have everyone there.:)

Bronco NATION!

Remember that part about Jake being excited to move to Boise because of a certain college team that he loves??? Ya I don't remember that either....okay I might just be reminded about that fact and the fact that Boise State is one of the GREATEST parts of Boise...correction the state of Idaho. No these are not my words, simply what I have been hearing non stop since we moved here. I do love Boise though, I have defnitely been converted to being a Bronco fan and I enjoy living in a city/state where everyone is united in supporting a team. Jake's parents came up a few weekends ago and we were able to get in on all of the action and attend one of these infamous games. Besides the almost unbearable heat I loved it! The tailgaters definitely are some of the best that I have seen and I am excited to go to more games, especially if I can find that mouth watering Bronco Chili that I snagged last time!:)

August resolutions and a little bit of everything!

First of all Thank You to all of you have reminded me that I need to update my blog more often! I'm sorry that I have been neglecting it.  With all that we have going on around here there seems to never be an available minute. I also seems to always forget to bring my camera! That's is part of my August resolution to take more pictures and update my blog more frequently! This post will also contain a little bit of everything we have been up to the past little while. Enjoy!

June 24th proved to be exciting at the Kinghorn house! Much to Jake's surprise, his sister Kate and I showed up with a cheesecake (half) birthday cake and presents to boot! Jake's birthday falls on Christmas Eve and because of all that we had going on this year...wedding...honeymoon...Christmas... it didn't leave too much time to celebrate. So this year we celebrated his half birthday! You can tell he looks super excited! Right??

                                                            Happy Half Birthday Hunny!
A couple weeks ago I was here....

Jake and I have loved exploring new places this summer and camping has become one of our favorite things to do! Speaking of which there are some amazing natural hot springs up Boise canyon! We spent a weekend checking out all the different hot springs up there with Jake's sister Kate. We highly recommend them! Over the 4th of July we decided to venture out a little farther and drive to the Oregon coast! It was so much fun and we were able to check out some fun campsites along the way.  The coast was so beautiful! One of the beaches that we stayed by had the most incredible beach. It followed alongside a series of cliffs which had some waterfalls coming off of them and connecting to the ocean. Jake's favorite part of the trip was checking out all of the local seafood restaurants along the way. I will never again doubt my husbands love for fresh seafood or his ability to eat seafood! 

                                                                 Us on the Coast!

Our fabulous tent that I put up by myself every night!  Jake decided that his duty was starting the fire and cooking dinner and mine was setting up the tent. Jake is such a fantastic cook so I was happy to leave that part to him!:)

Our last night we camped at Mt St. Helens! I wish I would have gotten a picture of where we stayed because this is just a picture that we took on our way home at a look out spot. We actually stayed on the peak right next to Mt St. Helens at the very tippy top! It was interesting to see the area after the devastation. From what we gather we were right where the lava would have spilled down and where the top blew off to.

 

On the way back down the mountain we ran into hundreds and hundreds of cars.  This peaked our curiosity of course why they were all there. The first couple of people that we asked, that mind you were wearing tie dye and definitely did not value personal hygiene or believe in wearing bras, told us that they were here for a "Welcome Home" ya we didn't really understand either but luckily our next friend let us know that it was for a rainbow festival. Yep looked up it up and they have one every year in a different state and they usually have around 2,000 in attendance. Apparently our invite got lost in the mail.  

 

 It's official I have been infected with the decorating bug! It seems I am always looking for a new project in our home and with a new home to decorate it seems like there is always something new for me to tackle! This is a photo of a wall in our front room that I thought turned out super cute! I found the ship at pottery barn and fell in love! Although I didn't buy into the full nautical beach look that pottery barn was showcasing this summer I definitely pulled out a few things that I thought were awesome! 

 This is definitely a working progress but this is what above my cabinets looks like right now. The crate and the cheese sign are from the barn! I love the crates because they have so much history stamped into them. I believe this one has Boston stamped on the front of it. 

I found the holder at a thrift store awhile back and thought that it would make a fun memo board until I found out how perfectly it fits my calendar! It was originally brown so I painted it black and sanded it down and added the beads!

Obviously I didn't leave the piece of fabric draped up there but I did make curtains out of it! I also added a lot more fun pillows to this couch and a few other touches! Don't we love the lamp!?!?! I found it at pottery barn the other day and was priced at originally $300. It had been marked down to $80 and when I took it up to the counter it rang in at $40!!! The lady checking me out was just as shocked as I was but definitely an exciting day! I am questioning the lamp shade that I currently have on it. I feel like it needs to be bigger and possibly have a triangular shape to it. Let me know your thoughts and suggestions!

I might as well open up my own catering business with the amount of food that I have been making lately. These are the infamous cafe rio pork salads that I made for a doctor's office that Jake brought lunch for. This morning I made chicken salad sandwiches and they are yummy! 

This is a picture of our old house in Logan! We went up there to put the front lawn in and I thought I would take a picture, because I thought it looked so great! I am sad I never got enjoy my flowers in the front and bushes that are finally starting to grow. We did get to enjoy the huckleberries from that big tree in the front. We had no clue what bounty we were leaving behind. There are raspberries in the backyard:(

This is random I know. But I did tell you this post was going to be an update about everything! I thought this picture turned out so cool especially since I took it on my phone. This weekend when Jake and I went to Rigby we passed a falcon on the road. We turned back wondering why it hadn't flew away and it flew up on this post. I was excited that it stayed long enough for me to take this picture!:)

Last but certainly not least! See this board here... Well I broke it in half....with my bare hand! Yes I might as well be a black belt in Karate because I Karate chopped it in half when I went to training in Vegas a few weeks ago. It was an exercise that they had us perform to get past barriers in our life. I don't know about barriers but I do know that I broke through that piece of wood. You can't tell I was excited about it at all, can you? Hope everyone is doing well! We are loving Boise and are welcome to visitors if anyone wants to come and stay, we promise a good time! -Melissa

1558 E 1140 N Logan Home for Sale - Youngblood Real Estate, LLC Utah Real Estate For Sale

Jake and I are busier then ever. Jake has been in Idaho most of this month working and coming home on the weekends. For the past two weekends he has only been home for 8 hours before we turn around and leave at 3AM to go house hunting in Boise, which is about a 4 and a half hour drive from logan. So between Jake starting a new job me finishing up with my job in Logan and trying to transfer and of course buying a house in Boise and selling our house in Logan life has been hectic! For those of you that have never seen our house in Logan here is the link for the listing. We just put in an offer on a house in Nampa an will hopefully find out shortly if it was accepted. I will post a link to it soon or you can just come for a visit!:) Wish us luck as life becomes even more hectic for the next two weeks.

1558 E 1140 N Logan Home for Sale - Youngblood Real Estate, LLC Utah Real Estate For Sale

Home Sweet...Boise?

It's official we are moving to....BOISE!  As of May 1st we will be Boise residents and we are so excited!  We are going to be sad to leave Logan since we both have made so many amazing friends and will be sad to leave them! But we are excited for the new adventure!  The reason we are moving is because Jake is starting a new job April 1st as a Medical Distributer for Bledsoe and although he will be working all over Idaho the company wants him to be located in Boise since that is where 75% of the Orthopedic surgeons that will be his clientale are located.  However, before we take off to the big city we have to get down to business.  First off is our house, I am really sad to sell it since I have only been able to live in it for a few months and we have done quite a bit of remodeling to make it a home and a place that we love to be! So...if you know anyone that is looking for a great house with a great ward and the most amazing neighbors let us know!  I will probably be posting some pictures on here after we finish getting everything ready.   

Did I mention that Jake is a Boise State fan? 

I will miss this! I see this everyday as I head down 400 North on my way to work.:(

Goodbye Logan! Thank you for all the adventures and for letting me meet so many Incredible friends! I hope you all come to visit in BOISE!

-Melissa

Busy as Bees!

It seems like there is always something going on lately in our house.  We have been married for almost two months and we have already checked a lot off of our "To Do List." 

 For example we have....

• Refinished two dressers
• Sanded and stained the floor in the living room
• Stained the built in bookcase in the living room
• Tiled the bathroom floor
• Painted the bathroom
• Refinished the cabinets in the bathroom
• Put together Jake's office (one of my fav's!) Daniel will be extra proud of me for this project.
• Put together both guest rooms downstairs
• Rearranged the living room TWICE! ...still may need some tweaking:)
• Numerous craft and decorating projects
• Refinished our kitchen table and reupholstered the chairs
• Turned a hobbit closet into a built in pantry/shelving unit. It'll make more sense when you see it.
• Widened two doorways
• Put slate on the kitchen floor and travertine on the countertops. Put in a slate backsplash and stained the cabintets....okay we may have done the last two before we were married...but they still count!:)

I told you we have been busy!!!

I never know what to expect when I get home from work. Projects that I thought we would hold off on for awhile, are in full demolition when I walk in my door!  Jake is amazing at not procrastinating projects and getting them done ASAP!  One of my favorite things about Jake is when I text him to remind him about things that need to be done his reply is usually that he has already done them!:)

One of my favorite craft projects that I have done is painting kinghorn on my mirrors.

It's king of hard to see with the reflection in the mirrors but I love it! What are your thoughts? I have contemplated putting a second shelf above this one and removing the mirrors but I worry I would have to lower my shelf too low and it sits right above my kitchen table.

As for the rest of the projects I'll try to remember to take pictures of them so that I can post about them as well. Hope everyone is having an AMAZING DAY!

Squirrels anyone?

This morning on the drive back from Jake's and my failed attempt at going to the temple (who knew they closed the temple the entire month of January for cleaning), we witnessed our neighbor who lives acrossed the street hanging her squirrels out to dry. We had to drive around the block a few times to confirm what we saw and to get a couple of laughs. Luckily when I drove by on my way to work she was gone, so I decided to be brave and get a picture.:)  We have quite a few squirrels that hangout in the area, but I guess this means they may need to relocate or fear being the next one to be hung out to dry.

6 More days!!!

6 More days!!!

In lew of it only being 6 days until our wedding and the fact that I have yet to post any engagements, groomals or mention anything in regards to our story I have decided to do it all now!:)

The Story:

Jake and I met officially an hour after I recieved my mission call to Yekaterinburg, Russia on July 14, 2010 at a local block party.  He claims that he had wanted to ask me out for some time before that and never had the chance.  I had seen him around campus and one of my best friends actually had pointed him out a few times saying that she wanted to line us up.  I didn't remember this when we started talking at the block party but I did remember him from church and my mission prep classes (which he just happened to go to). I wasn't too excited to talk to him at the block party since I was pretty overwhelmed after just getting my call and I was more interested in socializing with other friends.  He kept talking though and telling me EVERYTHING about Russia.  I remember thinking that this guy was obsessed with Russia.  About a week later I was at my house hanging out with my friends and he happened to be next door at my neighbors house for FHE, well my friend Lauren and I ran next door to grab some ice cream and say hi and while I was scooping up my ice cream he came in and started talking to me about big surprise... Russia. Asking if I had been practicing or had learned anything since getting my call.  I told him that I had been learning the Russian alphabet from a lady at work and he insisted that he was going to quiz me.  Not feeling confident in my skills and wanting to get back to my friends I hurried and left.  Awhile later he showed up at my house and I ran upstairs to my room to get my cheat sheet. He followed me upstairs and we started talking more about Russia.  While we were up there he invited me over that Wednesday (this was on a Monday) to go over to his house so he could show me pictures from his mission. 

My roommate Caitlin kept making a big deal about me going over there and the fact that he liked me which I kept reassuring her that he was just obsessed about Russia and I actually showed some interest in his stories. I was over there for about 3 or 4 hours talking about Russia and when I went to leave he invited me over that Sunday to make me a Russian dinner of Borsch. Later that week he was at Raging Waters with some friends and told his friend Justin that he loved me and wanted to marry me.  Justin of course thought he was crazy and told Jake that.  Sunday we made Borsch and he told me that his friends were having a bonfire in the canyon and asked if I wanted to go.  We drove up there but it was supposedly at a mythical 3rd dam that we were never able to find.  We decided to go to the Nunery and try to scare ourselves with an old superstition.  We ended up holding hands and then driving to Logan Peak where we went on a moonlight walk and had our first kiss.  On the way down he picked me a gorgeous boquet of Wild Flowers and stopped at every flower that we didn't already have in the boquet.  I discovered that night that he was interested in more than just Russia.  We spent as much time as we could from then on.:)  I was still planning on serving a mission but decided it would be alright to have a boyfriend.  We were falling fast and although Jake didn't worry about the fact that our time was running out and I needed to make a decision I did.  While driving back from Idaho to meet his family I started wondering if that was still the right path for my life to take. My life was already set in the direction to go and I worried about all the things that would fall out of place if I decided to not go.  The next day I was working at Dillards and my now boss came in and started talking to me about an opportunity for a job at Stevens Henager College.  He had been in before and discussed it with me and I had dismissed it before but I realized talking to him that day that no matter what I decided to do things would work out.  That night on a drive out to the Box Elder County Fair he told me if I decided to not go on a mission that he would ask me to Marry him on the spot.  He also told me that he loved me that night, something that we had tiptoed around because of the mission.  We decided that the next day being sunday him, myself and my mom would fast about my decision.  I recieved a blessing from Jake, my dad, and my brother Daniel and on the drive home that night I told him that I still needed to go on a mission.

I cried the entire way home as we told each other that this was the end but how much we loved each other.  He made me promise to talk to my Bishop first and that I would tell him my final decision on Tuesday. I went home completely distraught but luckily one of my best friends, Sophia came and picked me up and made me stay at the Kappa Delta house that night.  The next day was my day off and I had told my little sister that I would take her shopping that morning before her soccer practice.  We got back pretty early and when we arrived my dad was walking up from the barn.  He could see that I wasn't my usual self and asked me to go talk to him in his office.  We spent the next 3 hours debating every pro and con of each choice and giving me spritiual guidance I needed from my dad to help me make the decision.  After that I ran into my mom who I also sat with for a quite awhile and talked through things.  After that I decided that I needed to talk to my Bishop and before finalizing my deicison I talked to my sister Carin.  It was definitely an emotional day!  I called Jake on my way back to Logan not being able to wait another minute to tell him.  When I arrived he picked me up and twirled me around and gave me a kiss.  I kept trying to tell him I wanted to talk to him but he kept putting it off and telling me we should go on a drive.  We ended up in Green Canyon and decided to go for a walk.  We got a little bit up the trail when I finally told him that we needed to sit down on that fence and talk to him.  When we sat down I think I just started blurting everything out about how emotional of  day it had been (I'm surprised he didn't think I was some emotional freak) I then told him that I couldn't go on a mission because my heart was somewhere else.  He paused for a minute and then asked if I was sure and after I assured him that I was, he told me there was only one thing he needed to ask and that was if I would marry him!:)  

These are some of my favorite Groomals and Bridals that we took!:)