Coming back!

January 2013

 

I know, I know I was not very good at this whole blog thing the first time. However, maybe this time I will be better or at least I hope!  So many exciting changes have happened since I last posted in 2011.  On April 13, 2012 Nick and I purchased our first home together! It is located in Eagle, near the corner of Horseshoe Bend and Floating Feather, and very close to the foothills and a skate/bike park which Audrianna loves. Our new home is one of 16 houses in Addie's Corner subdivision. We live on a cozy private drive, Sandish Lane. Our home is perfect for us and believe it or not, we are still working on getting settled (mainly the garage and bonus room). Another plus is that our good friends, the Leatham's live less than a mile away!

Another super exciting change is that we are expecting a BABY! I am currently 15 weeks pregnant and feeling really good! I did have a little morning sickness and just not feeling myself in the early weeks of pregnancy. I did experience significant food aversions and was not able to eat many foods that I normally enjoy. I also had some mild headaches, a really weird metallic taste in my mouth, and the normal tiredness. Thankfully all those early side affects have passed and if it wasn't for my belly getting bigger I would hardly notice that I am pregnant. We have had two official ultrasounds and I am so happy to be sharing this experience with Nick. I love seeing his face light up every time we see our baby move and listen to the heart beat! This is such an amazing time and I am so excited for what it brings! Both of our families, friends, and especially Audrianna are super excited for us. We plan too find out what we are having on February 15th!

Some other highlights of 2012 included:
Hiking into a back country yurt located outside of Idaho City with Dennis and Toby in mid April. It was the first time for all of us and we had such a wonderful time. It was defiantly a cool experience and hopefully one we can do again!

In May, Nick got a NEW JOB! He was hired on at the Middleton School District as an IT Technician. Nick is much happier to be working in a field that he enjoys.  He is looking forward to continue to learn and grow in the district.

Nick and I went on our annual Lake Powell trip in June and had another great week on vacation. This trip was accompanied by some exciting news that Jason and Shannon were expecting a baby. Little Miss Clare Mackenzie Kerrick was born on January 13, 2013. We are taking a trip in a few weeks to meet her!

In early September, Audrianna, MB, and I got to share the experience of a lifetime, and travel to London to watch Muffy compete in the 2012 Paralympics! We flew into the Heathrow airport (it was mine and Audrianna's first 9 hour fight), learned how to take the subway, then boarded the Euro-Star train that travels underneath the English Channel, and finally after many hours of traveling we made it to Paris! We stayed in the cutest French hotel and had a truly amazing time. Before going to sleep on our first night, I didn't think it was necessary to set an alarm because I thought for sure Audrianna would wake us up. We ended up sleeping 16 hours and getting woke up by the maid knocking on our door at 2:30 in the afternoon. We had slept away our first morning in Paris but apparently really need the rest!  We spent the next two and half days exploring the city. We started by climbing the 700 stairs to the top of the Eiffel Tour and taking in the breath taking sites of the city from 1,000 feet high. We spent half a day at the Louvre and saw many famous sculptings and art work, including the original Mona Lisa painting.  We spent an afternoon in the north end of Paris at the Montmartre hill.  Audrianna had her portrait drawn by an artist at the Place du Tertre.  MB and I enjoyed our first beers in Paris while Audrianna enjoyed a vanilla ice cream cone. It was such a beautiful sunny day and probably one of my favorites days in Paris. We made our way to see the Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris.  We were able to walk around and enjoy the amazing architecture and beauty of the church.  We visited the Arc de Triomphe war memorial and climbed 100 stairs to walk around the top of the structure.  We enjoyed a relaxing open air boat cruise on the Seine River which was a nice way to see many of the building and monuments of the city.  We did a little tourist shopping. Overall, our short stay in Paris was quite a success. I was proud of us for find our way around, ordering food from French menus, and figuring out the Metro system. We had many good laughs and unforgettable memories. On our Euro-Star train ride back to London we had a funny mishap and almost did not depart on our stop but we could not be happier to see Jeff's face at the Edinburgh train station when he picked us up.

The second part of our trip felt like a completely different vacation. We spent four days in London and three of them at the Brand Hatch racecourse watching Muffy win THREE GOLD MEDALS!  It was amazing to be a part of this unspeakable accomplishment!   Our time spent at the racecourse was full of many laughs, nerves, and excitement!  It was surprisingly warm and very crowded. We spent one day in the actual city of London. I think all of us were a little travel out by this point but we made the best of our day. We road the original open-topped red double decker bus and toured the site of the city!  We spent most of our time at the Tour of London. We had an excellent and funny tour guide, and enjoyed seeing all the incredibly stunning Crown Jewels.  All and all, we had such a great vacation and trip to Paris and London!  It was definitely an amazing experience full of unforgettable memories, warm weather, lots of ice cream (and beer)!

Though out the year, we had many fun weekends hanging out with family and celebrating birthdays, including Audrianna turning 8!  She is growing up so fast!  She played on a youth basketball team and was fun to watch her, even when she was skipping up the court rather than running most of the time. We started off the fall with taco night and a fun night of trick-or-treating with my family in a neighbor close by our house. The kids had so much fun but they all were completely exhausted by the end of the night. We spent Thanksgiving day in Fruitland at Pete and Amy's house and then headed to Sun Valley for a fun weekend full of skiing, hot tubing, and board games.  While eating Thanksgiving leftovers, Audrianna finally lost her second front tooth!  She will be asking Santa for her two front teeth!  For an early Christmas present, Dennis surprised us with a Christmas city light helicopter tour over downtown Boise.  It was Audrianna's first time in a helicopter and such a neat experience to share as a family.  We headed to Salt Lake City the weekend before Christmas to celebrate Elle's 4th birthday, a girls day at the Nutcracker, and an early Christmas with Nick's family. We then headed to my parents house for a relaxing Christmas Eve and Day. We had such a good holiday season and both feel really lucky to have such great families!