The Air Show in Vegas!!

Russ and I headed down to Vegas for the air show this weekend. We drove down with Jeff, Russ' cousin and met up with his friend Lloyd and soon to be fiance Katie in St George. Lloyd lives down in St. George so we were able to stay with them. Russ loves the air show so this is an annual trip we make!! I actually did pretty good for being 7 1/2 months pregnant. Parking for this airshow is pretty ridiculous!! Last year I think we waited at least 3-4 hours just to get out of the base since they bus everyone in and out. This year we were pretty smart and went in the back way and parked in the lot where most the locals go. The lines to the base were not bad. But the miracle was after the airshow when they were busing people back. We Left right at the end after the thunder birds did their show and got in line. There was a lot of people in line already, so we followed the crowd that moved up in line on the right hand side of the line area. As bad and annoying as that is to some people, man it was worth it. We merged with the left side of the line and right where were were, a bus came and we cut across to get on. We were able to get on the first bus out!!! How does that happen?? Well I think someone was lookin' out for me cause my hips were killin' me and we didn't have anything to eat all afternoon so I was starving!! And funny thing was, when they dropped us off, they were giving out free loaf of bread to everyone as advertisement for a new product. It was good bread and held us over until we got to the buffet we ate at. Pretty awesome!!!

Russ' Favorite-The Raptor

The Thunder birds!!!

Our Amazing Soliders

I love this Heritage flight picture and during it they told us this awesome poem. It really made me appreciate and think of all the soldiers, now and through out the history of the world, how wonderful they are and what great sacrifice they have made just so we can be free!! There is no better gift someone can give then to lay down his life for others.

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister

Who has given us freedom of religion
It is the Soldier, not the reporter

Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet

Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer

Who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer

Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician

Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,

Who serves beneath the flag,

And whose coffin is draped by the flag,

Who allows the protester to burn the flag

"Hell freezing over"..............

This morning when I woke up to take Russ to tracks, I went outside to start the car so it would be warm for us. I walked out and couldn't believe that snow covered everything. I walked back in and told Russ to grab a coat! When he went to the door to feel how cold it was, his first comment was "oh look, Hell has frozen over already". After the long night last night and ending the way it did, his comment was a little too accurate. To say the least we were a little disappointed with the out come. It was actually quite funny to watch my husband and Mom last night watching the polls. The next four years are going to be very interesting.

Crafts

Lately I have been working on a lot of crafts! Most recent I just finished my Halloween craft that I did with my sisters. We saw the idea at the wood connection.





The next thing that Ashley and I worked on was our Fall decoration. I just love the fall season and making crafts for this time of year because there are so pretty fall colors to work with. Especially my favorite-Red.

Halloween~

For Halloween I had to work so I decided to wear my costume. I was a little nervous about it because its so morbid, but it turned out to be a hit! I had 2 different customers actually take a picture of me, plus a lot more told me how much they loved it. One person said that we should make a bunch and sell it because we'd probably make good money off it. Pretty funny. After I got off work, Russ and I went up to Ashley and Wes' house and had pizza, played some games, and watch a scary movie. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the family. We watched "the eye" which was a pretty scary movie. It was fun to watch my mom get really scared and hold her hand to her face the whole time just in case she needed to cover her eyes. I think everyone was a little nervous with that movie. Pretty fun night!!!
!!HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Evans Halloween Party

On Monday night we had our Halloween party with the Evans family. Russ had a great costume idea for me. He was so excited that he made the costume for me-sowing and all. He went to the DI and found a cabbage patch doll and took it apart and sowed it on some elastics that went around my belly. He used his work shirt, cut holes and added blood. It definitely was a hit!! Russ looked pretty scary himself!! He had to take off the mask during the party so he didn't scare all the little kids. At the party we had a nice dinner and played lots of games. It was so fun to see all the fun costumes, especially the cute kids.

Pap pop with Kimball

Rich, Lisa, and Family

Mindy and Cierra

Russ and Lexy

Chris, Cierra, and Gavin

Russ, Gavin, and Hagen

This week I have hit week 30! Actually its really week 31, but I went to the Dr. last week and she was measuring 29 inches, so I'm going with that. My due date is Dec. 27th, but I still want to go over into January so I'll give a week or so to the time line. The time is going pretty quick which is good. I feel like I've been really spoiled because this pregnancy is going so smooth. Whitney is a very active baby which brings me comfort. It also makes me laugh that every time I snuggle up to Russ, she just kicks him in the back making it impossible for him to sleep. Hee hee!! Another thing that drives her crazy is when I lean up against the table at work. No fail, that girl just kicks away at it until I'm not touching it anymore. Lately its been a lot of fun to get ready for this baby. My mom, my sisters, and I, have done craft nights every so often and have put together some beaded binky holders, blankets, and burp cloths. I'm still working to finish my quilt for whit as well. That's been a lot of fun getting together to do that. Especially cause Russ has been super busy with school. Last week he had the whole week off for winter break and spent everyday, all day and even into the late night doing his 40 page report that's 50% of his grade. Also he has to do a slide show on that report and present it to his class for a 10 min. presentation. This is all due tomorrow along with a test in another class that he's got to study for tonight. It seems like a lot of stress the poor guy. Glad its him and not me. It makes me tired just thinking about it. He's a trooper though, and lucky for me he's still a sweetheart amidst the stress.
I'm excited for the next couple of weeks because I start having my baby showers and we're also going to St. George for the air show. I love having things to look forward to because it makes time go quicker and keeps me busy. By all means I dont want to wish this pregnancy away cause being pregnant is enjoyable-at least at this stage :)- but Russ and I just cant wait to have our little girl snuggling with us and to finally see what she looks like. Plus its going to be nice to fit into all my cloths again and to have all my moving abilities back again! :)

Right now I’m in my 24rd week and I can feel the baby just getting bigger and bigger. It’s been really fun to feel her kick me. She’s big enough that Russ is feeling her kick too. I’m about six months now and already it seems like I’ve been pregnant forever. I just can’t wait to see what this little girl looks like. Although I’m really enjoying being pregnant so I shouldn’t wish time away. Russ had his birthday on Aug. 11. We had a fun party with the family and close friends. It’s always fun to watch him play with all the nieces and nephews. He was giving all the little kids a fast ride in a little toy dump truck. He took off so fast that I swear he was going to leave the kids behind in the dust. But they loved it. My mom and I made home made ice cream, which is so yummy, and cupcakes that Russ requested. It was a fun time. He’s now 27!!! Monday the 25th he started school at the U of U again. He’s pretty happy with his classes, which is good. I can’t believe that we’ll have a little one once this semester ends. Then after that, one more semester and he’ll have his Masters. He’s a hard worker and dedicated. I love that about him. I am back at Wells Fargo on 94th and 7th in Sandy. It’s a great branch and I’m enjoying it. I’m only doing 25-30 hrs which is a change for me. I think during this pregnancy it’s really nice to have less hours of work and more time to relax. I’m just not as energized all day long like I was before and the extra sleep is really helpful. My mom and I have a couple of projects that we’re doing that keeps us busy. Right now we are working on little Whitney’s quilt. I had a hay day at Joann’s the other day and found the cutest material. I think this is going to be a great project to keep me occupied while Russ is doing his many hours of homework. When I get further a long with it I’ll post a picture.

IT'S A GIRL

Russ and I just found out 2 weeks ago that we are going to have a little Christmas baby girl that's due Dec. 27th! I’ll have to recap all that has happen in the last few months since I’m horrible at keeping up to date on this blog. This last spring and summer we’ve been very busy. Russ got his bachelors in Mechanical Engineering this spring and now only has one year left to finish the combined program for his masters. He’s worked hard and I’m so proud of him. This past May we had the chance to watch 3 adorable kids-Packer, Hannah, and Kimball. For those who don’t know, they are Russ’ brother Rich and Lisa’s kids. They went to Israel for 18 days in May so we were able to stay at their house and watch them. Russ and I still worked during the day but we had them the rest of the time. It was a lot of fun, yet a lot of work. We now have a small idea of what is coming in the next few years. During the time we watched them a lot of people made the comment that this experience would be a good form of birth control, but little did they know that it was too late for that. Russ and I found out that we were expecting in the first part of May. It was a little tough for me to be nauseous with 3 kids, working full time, Russ getting sick in bed for a week, and on top of all that, we had to speak in church! Reality check-it was a hard one. I don’t know how those working moms do it! I was lucky that Lisa before she left did all the babysitter planning for the day time while we were at work. I can’t imagine trying to find a babysitter for eight hours a day, 5 days a week. Plus the cost for that!! Ouch! It was a lot of fun to see ourselves in the parent roll before we are actually parents. Thank goodness they come one at a time. After they got back from their trip Russ and I left 2 days later to Hawaii again. Russ started another house out there and this time I got to go. We were thinking that we’d be out there about a month but it ended up being 2 months.

Our Hawaii Trip

Well we got on the plane and I lasted almost through the whole flight without being sick…..almost. We were just landing in Maui when I just couldn’t take it anymore and threw up on the plane. How embarrassing! The poor lady next to me must have been thrilled to be sitting next to me. On top of that the bag that I used leaked and it spilled all over my pants and sweater. I just wanted to cry. For the first couple of weeks we stayed in this really nice place that had a huge master bathroom with a nice tub shower in the ground and a nice huge bed with a TV-it was paradise. It had a pool and was really close to the ocean. But a few weeks later that condo was rented out and we had to move to a house. It was the house from heck!!! It had no air conditioner, a million bugs in it which only bit me and little tiny ants all over the kitchen!! I’ll just tell you I threw up a lot in that house. With my new super sonic smelling nose I have being pregnant, every smell in that hot house made me sick. Especially the kitchen sink. I had to get up really early to do the dishes so I could do it with out dealing with the heat and I covered my nose so the smell wouldnt be as bad. It was pretty miserable. I felt bad for Russ more than I did myself because he had to go to work in the heat than come home to a house that was hotter inside it then it was outside of it. It was a heat trap. It was really close to the beach though and there was a swimming pool to use across the street. After a few weeks there we were thrilled to leaving that place never to return again. The last place we stayed was a lot better but by this time we just wanted to get back home to our family and friends. Russ and his guys worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week to get done fast so we could go home as soon as possible. We missed everyone and we felt like we were missing a lot. Holidays, Birthdays, family get togethers, and Kristy and Ashley (my sisters) both had their babies so I was anxious to get home to see them. Kristy’s little girl was born in June and Ashley’s little girl was born in July, just a couple of days before we made it home. We finally finished up in Hawaii and made it home......but here’s the fun part about it- No one knew that I was pregnant!!!!

How we announced!

Well Russ’ parents came to the airport and I wore a tighter shirt so they would notice. Luckily I was just about out of the 1st trimester so I didn’t get too sick on the plane ride home!! Yay! We walked outside where they were waiting and greeted them at the van but they just didn’t look at my belly. Granted I wasn’t huge at this point but I’ll tell ya, to me I felt big enough to notice. But Russ finally said to them, pointing to my belly, look what else we brought home. Funny enough I was holding Hawaii boxes of chocolates so they still didn’t notice. Finally he said “We brought home a little baby”! They were really excited! Now this is how we told my mom which was a scream. First of all I have to admit that I flat out lied to her about being pregnant because she kept asking while I was gone and I wanted to surprise her. So she had no idea. Plus I told her that we were going to be in Maui a couple weeks longer than what we really were planning on. When we landed in Salt Lake I even called her and was saying that I was on the beach while Russ was working a half day- again flat out lying..hee hee! Well Ash was still in the hospital with her new baby and my mom was going over to visit, so her and I came up with this plan. Ashley actually knew that I was pregnant. I had told her so I could have someone to ask questions to if I needed. I came to the hospital and Wes (Ashley’s husband) found a wheelchair and a gown for me to use. I put in on and sat down while Wes gathered the family in their room. Russ rolled me into the room and when seen by everyone said “oh oops wrong room” and started to roll back like we were going to leave. The look on my mom’s face was hilarious. She was the only one that didn’t know I was back. She was really confused. We then said "suprise we are back..." then I got up and said " ....and I have another surprise for you" and took off the gown and showed her my belly and told her I was pregnant. She said “no your not”. “Yes I am”. “No your not, there’s no way, are you kidding me, no way”!! I think it took her half the day to have it actually sink in that I was really pregnant! Her face was priceless. I called the doctor when I got back and was able to get in 3 days later for our first appointment. I was a little nervous because we hadn’t seen a doctor and I was already 15 or 16 weeks. We went in and since it was so far a long we were able to see the sex! I was hoping for that. Actually we found out that I was 17 and half weeks along, so more than I expected! Dec. 27th is the due date!!! I am hoping to have her a little bit early or a week or two late so she’s not born right at Christmas time. That would be a hard birthday time of year. But we’ll see! We’ve decided on the name Whitney but I’m still trying to pick out a good middle name that goes with it. We’re pretty excited!!! So far other than those couple of weeks being sick, I’ve really enjoyed being pregnant. Ever since seeing the baby with the ultra sound and hearing its heart beat it’s been a lot more fun because it seems more real to us now.

Hawaii

Our Hawaii trip was a lot of fun! Well for me it was all fun, but for Russ it was half business, half pleasure. A couple of weeks before Christmas Russ went out to Maui to build the house while I stayed home to work and go to all the Christmas parties. Needless to say I was really jealous that he was in the 80 degree weather and I was back in the cold, but he went out again in January and that time I was able to go with him. He flew out there a couple of days before I did, so it was a little nerve racking to fly by myself to somewhere I'd never been. I wasn't too nervous about the flight and finding my way from flight to flight on the layovers, but the biggest thing I was a little nervous about was I had to pick up the rental car in Maui then drive a half hour or so in the dark to the condo that we were staying at. Thank heaven for cell phones and google maps!!! The next morning we woke up at 4:30 in the morning to drive up the huge mountain Haleakala and watched the sunrise. It was my first view seeing Maui on top of that Mountain. What a site it was!!!! Luckily there was a building that we could go into because it was below freezing at that height and there was 40 mile an hour wind. Brrrrrr! I was in shorts and a sweater and a blanket of course, and was still freezing. I thought Maui was suppose to be a lot warmer than that-Hee hee. But once we headed down that hill, man it warmed up fast and was so beautiful.
While there we did a lot of snorkeling and saw many fish, a couple of sea turtles, and an eel. I really love snorkeling and I want to eventually get certified in scuba diving. Russ has the same desire, so that will be fun someday!!! Another thing we did was take a drive around the upper part of the island that not very many people travel on. Most of the road was a one way passage, so it was a little tricky to move around the on coming cars. We stopped by one site where the blow hole was. It was a little hike down, but worth it. People were actually impressed with us hiking in our flip flops down the rocks. The blow hole was just a hole in the middle of the rock and when the waves came it traveled through the tunnel and came up the hole making big slashes that shot out really high. It was so awesome-I put some pictures on the side! And of course, Igot a little too close and wet.
During the week I just did whatever the heck I wanted to, like snorkeling, a lot of shopping, and laying out. It was really relaxing for me, but a little boring too since I was by myself. But at night we had BBQ’s and hung out by the pool and just hung out. I really miss it now, especially after having all this snow dump on us! I definitely can’t wait for spring time and warmer weather.

What we are doing now

Since I just started to Blog, I guess I should catch everyone up on what is going on with our lives. We are coming up on a year in March and I can’t believe it. Time is flying by!!
Russ is still in school right now going to the U of U for mechanical engineering, and just this past winter he took the 8 hour FE test and passed!!! Yay-he is now officially an engineer, but still has a little over a year left till he receives his Masters!! He works when he can during the week and on the breaks when he is out of school for his brother Chris, faming houses. He’s actually had a few jobs come up this year in Hawaii. Ruff life working out thereJ In January, before he went back to school, I actually got to go out there with him for a week while he worked. It was a very relaxing vacation for me, sadly he had to work but we had our weekends which were so much fun. Right now he is working on his senior project which is a GPS auto caddy that follows you around when you golf so you don’t have to pull it behind you. It will have all the sensors to not get too close, yet follow close enough for your convince. It’s amazing to me to see how smart he is to design and built this thing. In his spare time he is starting to do Jujitsu with my brother in law Wess. LOOK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjRpTNWv7dY
Russ has always been into wrestling and stuff like that. He was 4th in state back in High School which is impressive. It’s just too bad that I didn’t know him back then….Mmmmm Mmmmm J
As for me, I’m just working full time at the bank still. I’m at the 106 S 1300 E location in Sandy which is really nice because it’s close my mom’s house as well as our own house. It’s been really fun because I go to my moms and eat lunch with her everyday!!! It’s nice
hours, holidays off, and has great benefits, which is the reason why I’m staying with them. I’ll be working here until we start having babies. I like most the people I work with and it’s a good environment. The only thing I hate about it is the sales. Yep, I said sales-you’d be surprised to know how big a role sales plays in the banking business, especially with Wells. I decided that I want to develop some more talents so I’ve decided to learn how to play the flute. I’ve always wanted to play and for Christmas is ’06, Russ bought me a flute. I don’t have a teacher yet, but I’ve been learning from books on my own and have done pretty well. Russ and I are still keeping up on the piano, because luckily his parents have one upstairs that we can play on. We are still living in the basement of his parents in our own apartment! It’s so great to be there because rent in cheap, most times you don’t realize that someone lives upstairs, we have everything we need –including a washer and dryer(which I got installed this summer-yay), and if we ever need anything his parents are very close. Really the only complaint we have is when we sleep in we can sometimes hear his sister Mollie playing with her toys on the wood floor! But that’s just telling us that we need to get our lazy bum’s out of bed! Hee hee.
Well as for our families, they are all alive and well for the most part! This last year in ‘07 we had 3 babies born on the Evans side. Mindy had twins, Trey and Cierra, and Lisa had Kimball. And this year Lisa is pregnant again due in Sept., and on my side Ashley and Kristy are expecting both due in July. Kristy is just a few weeks ahead of Ashley. Three more babies!! That is really exciting, and honestly it’s making me a little baby hungry. I’ll be 27 this year, so I’m getting that feeling that I need to start pretty soon. It seems like everyone is poppin’ them out, so it must be in the water. We’ll have to see if I drink some of it soon!!

Our Wedding!!!

Russ and I were married on March 16th 2007 in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful and warm day in March. It actually turned out to be a record breaking temperature for March. The wedding seemed to be perfect and fortunately that how I remember it. We did have our few worries and funny stories to tell. They always say that your wedding date is bound to have some things go wrong, but I was given good advice before the wedding. I was told that if things go wrong, don’t worry about it and to let everyone else around you worry about-but to enjoy the day and make it as enjoyable as possible. So I decided before that day that I wouldn’t get bugged or mad if anything went wrong-to just enjoy myself and don’t sweat the small stuff! Well it worked and as they had said there were a few things that went wrong. But those things just make great stories. I have to say that the marriage and sealing was amazing!!! There is no greater feeling of joy than to be kneeling with your best friend at the altar knowing that you are going to spend the rest of your life and eternity with that person. But enough of that.....on to the funny stories. The first thing I did was rip my dress when we were talking pictures at the temple. It was in the armpit, and luckily you couldn't even tell it was ripped. When Russ was swinging me around for the camera, I heard the horrible sound of ripping. But I decided to just go on smiling, cause count my many blessings it didn’t make a whole or anything close to it. The second funny thing that happened was after the luncheon which was held at the spaghetti factory my new mother and father in law (Linda and Steve) had given their keys to one of their sons and he took off in another car and left the two of them stranded. It took them so long to get a hold of anyone that they made it a little late to the reception. But that didn’t really matter because I ended up being late to our own reception and that’s the third funny thing....... Apparently after we were done taking pictures at the temple I went in and changed to another outfit for the luncheon. My mom was still there helping me finish getting things together. She was in a different car, so she left a little before I did. Well I thought that she had grabbed my wedding dress, and she thought that I would grab it, so basically I forgot my wedding dress at the temple and didn’t realize it until an hour before my reception. And the hour before my reception all the family members were going to get together and take pictures. Guess that didn’t work out since Linda and Steve were missing in action and I was trying to figure out if the temple still had my dress. Luckily they did and we had my sister in laws father pick it up on his way home from work. He drove as fast as he could, parked in the middle of the sidewalk right in front of the temple where you go in, put on his hazard lights and ran to get the dress. He was very quick and luckily there was only 15 min. into the reception when I didn’t have my dress. The fourth thing that happened was after the reception we headed over to my mom’s house so I could change my cloths and pick up a few things. Russ had left his bag for his tux there as well that he needed to take with him. When he picked it up he notices that it was a little heavy, so he reached in the bag and pulled out a pair of black shinny shoes. I wish I could have taken a picture of his face when he looked down at his feet and saw that he was wearing his brown shoes with his black suit pants. He had worn those ugly old shoes throughout the entire reception. Hee hee
Well the fifth and final thing......which is the funniest of all....was when the reception was over. We headed back to our apartment, which is in the basement of his parent’s house, to change before we headed off to our hotel. But when we got there we had forgotten a key to their house or our apartment. We went to the front door but it was locked so we had the idea to break into his parents’ bedroom window. Well Russ was still wearing his nice rented suit pants. And since he needed to climb a little, he decided to strip down to his underwear and climb up so he wouldn’t ruin the pant. Well he got in, but we didn’t know that a babysitter was there with Russ' handicapped sister. Well luckily I went around knocking on the door for him to open it and to my surprise it was her, and Russ was coming around the corner. He saw her, and darted into the bathroom. We are still hoping that she didn’t see him. Who knows??? But I must say it was a funny sight to see my new husband strip down to his whites and climb a tree. :) But even though we had our crazy things that happened, it still was a perfect day and I wouldn’t change a second of it!!!!

Honey Moon

For our honeymoon we went and stayed at an all inclusive hotel in Los Angeles. The first day we went to six flags and rode some fun rides. We also went to Knott's berry farm during the week. I liked Knott's better than 6 flags to be honest. That was the first time that I had been to 6 flags and unfortunately some of the best rides were not working. That day there wasn’t a lot of people there so you’d think that the lines would be short, but that wasn’t the case. We stood in some lines for 45 min or more because they didn’t have a lot of the rollercoaster cars going. But Knott's berry was the opposite case, we just walked on to most of the rides or didn’t wait long and I liked how the rides were so close together so you didn’t walk a thousand miles in between each ride.
When we were planning this trip, Russ signed us up to be extra’s in a movie. We were extra’s in the new movie coming out with Will Farrell called “Semi-pro”. So if you see that movie, look for us in the crowd at the basketball game!! It was an 8 hour event-too long in my book. But it was a fun experience and not very many people can say that they’ve been in a movie. I’ll tell you though, those actor/actress’ are the laziest ever. it seems like we were always waiting on them and the director. I think that I actually heard the director say “Ok, places everyone, places….” like 100, 000 times.
Another thing that we did was go see all of the temples in the area and we did a session at the LA and San Diego temples. The San Diego temple was my favorite-inside and out. Then we went and hung out in San Diego and crossed the border into Tijuana. Luckily it was raining when we went so it didn’t stink as bad. We did sit down and have an actual Mexican meal-chicken and beef tacos with chips and salsa. We were hoping that the meat was not dog but if it was, it would have been better than the chips and salsa. The salsa in Mexico is reused after customers eat it. Instead of empting out the bowl, they just fill it up to the top again. And the chips were really soft and had mold all over them. I couldn’t make myself eat them after I saw the green mold………sick. What an experience!!! Thank heaven for American Mexican food!!!