Kent and Kayla's Wonderful Life

I'm Taking a Gratitude Challenge

2011-12-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

I know I say this a lot, but I LOVE my son! I LOVE being a mother! I couldn't imagine my life any differently; it is perfect for us right now. A few weeks ago my friend Carley and I got to go to "Time Out for Women." Sister Sheri Dew spoke, and one thing that she touched on was the divine role righteous women have in this world. Fewer and fewer women are realizing their potential as wives and mothers, and are choosing careers and glam over the more important things. She told a story of a woman who was at dinner with a large group of people. When asked by a successful businessman what she did, she said she was a stay at home mother of four. The man looked at her for a moment, and then turned his conversation to someone else, someone with a "more exciting" life. Sister Dew went on to say that the next time some condescending, judgmental person asks what you do in a belittling way, to respond with confidence with something like, "I am nurturing (insert number of kids here) my son along the path to Exaltation, how about you?" I love that response, and I plan to use it. "No one has more influence on a child than his mother." I am grateful for Motherhood. And I am grateful for Adoption.

Okay, so last night I was reading the December Ensign. After the First Presidency Message, "The Choice to Be Grateful," by President Eyring, there is a section specifically for the Youth and then for the Children on how to apply the message to them. The Youth section is entitled, "Take a Gratitude Challenge:"

Take a Gratitude Challenge

By John Hilton III and Anthony Sweat

Let’s not just talk about counting our blessings—let’s do it! Write a list of 100 things you are thankful for. If that sounds like it is too many, try this:

1.
Write 10 physical abilities you are grateful for.
2.
Write 10 material possessions you are grateful for.
3.
Write 10 living people you are grateful for.
4.
Write 10 deceased people you are grateful for.
5.
Write 10 things about nature you are grateful for.
6.
Write 10 things about today you are grateful for.
7.
Write 10 places on earth you are grateful for.
8.
Write 10 modern inventions you are grateful for.
9.
Write 10 foods you are grateful for.
10.
Write 10 things about the gospel you are grateful for.

When we make a list like this, we discover that a list of 100 doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of all the things God has given us.

Well, I am going to do this. Right now. I am grateful for:
1. My overall health
2. My height
3. My teeth
4. My endurance
5. My hands
6. My smile
7. My eyes
8. My freckles
9. My mind
10. My strength
11. Our home
12. Our car
13. My piano
14. My journals
15. Our clothes
16. Our pictures
17. Our bed
18. Kyson's crib
19. Kent's job
20. Food on the table
21. Jesus Christ
22. Kent
23. Kyson
24. Our parents
25. My siblings and their significant/future significant others
26. Kent's siblings and their spouses
27. Our grandparents
28. President Monson and the Quorum of the 12
29. Our Birthmother, H
30. Close friends, like Carley and Krista :-)
31. Joseph Smith
32. President Gordon B. Hinckley
33. Nephi
34. Alma
35. Brigham Young
36. Moses
37. Lehi
38. Adam
39. Eve
40. My ancestors
41. Rain and it's cleansing properties
42. Trees and the peaceful beauty of the forests
43. Waterfalls--they are so majestic and fascinating to me
44. The ocean and beaches--inspiration and awesome
45. The mountains and their powerful presence
46. Snow--so magical
47. Sunshine and its warmth, beauty, and joy
48. Flowers and their beauty and scents
49. Birds and their happy songs and brilliant colors
50. Sunrises and sunsets for beginning and ending each day with all of the colors of the Lord's imagination
51. The opportunity I have to write this list and realize how blessed I am
52. My warm home
53. Kyson's company
54. To-do Lists and getting things done
55. Christmas music
56. Reading the Scriptures
57. Writing in my journal
58. Rest
59. Laughter
60. Exercise
61. My parents' home in Elma, WA--it is one of my favorite places on earth
62. Kent's parents' home in Northborough, Ma--we've had some fun memories there together.
63. BYU--my Alma Mater and where Kent and I met
64. The Temple--I can't wait to be sealed to Kyson in just over 2 months!
65. Guatemala
66. Costa Rica
67. Disneyland
68. Our home, wherever it may be.
69. The Beach
70. The mountains in winter
71. Cell phones--I love talking to my family!
72. Computers and internet
73. Our hot chocolate maker
74. Heating and air conditioning
75. Hot baths
76. Waffle iron
77. Cars
78. Washing machines and dryers
79. Pianos, Guitars, and all instruments
80. Boats
81. Ice cream
82. Chocolate
83. Red bell peppers
84. Pizza
85. Lasagna
86. Enchiladas
87. Red grapes
88. Cheese
89. Homemade raspberry jam
90. Homemade, hot chocolate chip cookies
91. The Restoration of the Gospel
92. The Sealing power and the chance for families to be together forever
93. The power of the Priesthood
94. Prayer
95. The gift of the Holy Ghost
96. The Scriptures, including General Conference
97. A living Prophet who guides and leads the Church today
98. Uplifting music
99. Repentance
100. The Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ

Okay, let me just say that this was so easy. It didn't take me long at all. The hardest part was trying to keep it to ten of each category. It is true that this list hardly scratches the surface of the things I am grateful for and the blessings that I have in my life.

I challenge EVERYONE who reads this to make your own list! It is a lot of fun! It would be a great Family Home Evening activity, or anytime activity. In a world where it can be easy to overlook the good and see only the negative, I am grateful for the Gospel; it truly is the Gospel of Good News, and I am happy to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Even though I have my own set of down days and challenges, I know I am never alone and that I am incredibly blessed beyond measure, and I am happy to be alive.

I Am Thankful...

2011-11-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. It was incredibly busy and hectic, but we have so much to be grateful for it's hard to comprehend sometimes. I am so grateful for a incredible son , Kyson, and for my amazing, loving husband, Kent. Both of these guys in my life are so good to me (yes, even at 3 months, Kyson is good to me! He never ceases to amaze us!) and I am so grateful for them and all they do for me. And I am so grateful for our families...we have truly been blessed with loving family members who care so much for us, and we for them. We love you all.

So a couple weeks ago we had some scary news: my grandpa, Opa, had a mini stroke, or TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack). Kent and I went to the hospital twice to visit him while he was there, and I helped my grandma, Oma, at their health club a bit so she could also be with him. We are very blessed that he is okay. His balance and energy levels are not so good at this point, but things could have been so much worse. I have been over at their house every day since the stroke helping Oma and Opa with as much as I can. We have been able to help finish up their yard work, put up their Christmas lights, and help get ready for tons of our family to come into town for Thanksgiving. I am grateful we have been in a position where we can help so much; we are fortunate to live only 4 miles from them right now.

Since the stroke, Opa can no longer drive himself, so on Tuesday I was able to drive him to Midway for his brother's son-in-law's funeral. It was unfortunate circumstances that brought us there, and my heart goes out to my extended family that is mourning the loss of their father, husband, son, and brother. I didn't know Dean Foreman, but his funeral was very nice, and I can tell he was a wonderful, very loved man. Opa got to see his brother Paul, and it was fun getting to see the two of them together. I am grateful for Opa--since I can remember, he has always been one of my greatest role models. I have always looked up to him for his strength of character, his testimony, hard work ethic, positive attitude, generosity of his time and talents, and his love for Oma and his family. I wanted to find a husband who would love me and treat me the way Opa has always loved and treated Oma, and I have. I don't know if Opa will ever really know how much I look up to him, but I do and always have. He is one of my heroes. He knows so much and is always striving to learn more, especially about the Gospel and the scriptures, and he is always working hard to be better. He is a wonderful example to me and to everyone who knows him.

When Kyson and I took Opa to the funeral, I somehow managed to loose my camera. We bought our camera last month as an early Christmas present so we could capture all the sweet moments we have with Kyson. I have been literally sick about loosing it. We literally tore our house apart looking for it, and we just looked everywhere we could think of. We prayed several times that we'd be able to find it. Last week out home teacher came and told a story of his sister and her husband who live in Europe. They were both working in opposite directions and desperately needed a second vehicle. So they prayed that Heavenly Father would bless them with a vehicle that ran and could get each of them where they needed to go. Not long after that, an acquaintance approached them and offered to give them his old truck. It still ran, but it was old and had holes in the floor boards and he was going to just junk it, but decided to see if they wanted it first. They were so grateful for this blessing. But as the season turned to Winter and it got colder, the truck became extremely cold to drive. The wife decided to pray, thanking Heavenly Father for answering her prayers, but then asking, "I know you've sent us this truck, but do you think you could find a way to send us a vehicle that doesn't have holes in the floor boards and that has heat so I can be warm as I drive?" As she prayed, she had a feeling that Heavenly Father was chuckling at her request, and she felt the answer, "I could have given you so much more at the beginning, but all you asked for was a vehicle that ran. You should have been more specific." I thought this lesson by our home teacher was very thought-provoking--are we being specific enough in our prayers, being careful not to just ask for the bare minimum?

On Friday night, after looking and praying for several days to find my camera, I remembered this thought and decided I would be specific in my next prayer to find it. Saturday, I threw my sister Katelyn a baby shower and I really wanted to have my camera for that event, and to take pictures of Kyson during the beginning of this holiday season. So Friday night I prayed, asking if I could please find my camera, if possible, before Katelyn's baby shower. I felt good about the prayer and had faith it would happen. Well, it didn't turn up before the shower.

We had a wonderful time at Katelyn's shower. Thank you to all of our family who came to support her on this special day! She and Steve are going to make amazing parents and they so deserved the support. I will post pictures later, once I get copies from Katelyn since I didn't have my camera.

The rest of the day we spent together with Katelyn, Steve, Ki, and his wonderful girlfriend, Jaynie. We had dinner and played games at our Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Kathy's house--we so love them! Then we returned to Oma and Opa's to watch a late night movie since Katelyn and Steve had to leave for Rexburg today. They had picked up their crib earlier, and when we got there, I went with Katelyn to the garage to see it. I had driven Opa to the funeral in their Lexus. Kent and I had each already looked for the camera in their car, but I felt prompted to look one last time. So I asked Katelyn to help me look again. We looked for a couple minutes, everywhere in that car! Finally, I glanced down in side door pocket of the back seat. At first I just saw black and didn't think anything was there. Then I saw something black, but I just thought it was maybe a pair of gloves. I decided to reach in anyway, and low and behold I pulled out our camera! I still have no clue how we didn't see it there earlier, or how it even ended up in that pocket, but what a tender mercy and a blessing! Heavenly Father answered my prayers to find our camera and the memories on it, and it was less than 12 hours later than the time I had requested to find it (hehe). His time table may differ from ours from time to time, but He does answer our prayers.

For Thanksgiving, I had contacted everyone on my Mom's side of the family and asked them to send me something they were grateful for. I compiled everyone's messages and we rolled them up and baked them into Oma's dinner rolls at dinner (thank you, Pinterest). It was so fun seeing everyone pull out messages from family members about what they are grateful for. I also compiled the messages and put them in a small album for Oma and Opa to have. Thank you to everyone who helped me do that for them; it turned out so great. I loved being able to see what my family, near and far, are grateful for. The common theme in all of them was "family." What a wonderful gift our families are to us in this life and the next.

While Katelyn, Steve, Ki, and Jaynie and us got to be together with family here in Utah for Thanksgiving, we sure missed our parents, Lyska, and Tyson. We love you so much. We did get to Skype them for Katelyn's shower though, and that was amazing!

Kyson is starting to giggle. It is my favorite thing to see and hear. He also learned to suck his thumb yesterday! It's not a habit we want him to keep, but it sure it cute to see him sucking his thumb instead of his index finger or his entire fist! He is sure growing up so fast. We just can't get over what an amazing boy he really is! He has been so good while we have been running around like crazy lately. He rarely cries, and his is so good-natured and patient and content. We can see his countenance and know he is a special child of God, and we are grateful He has entrusted us with such a precious, sweet spirit. He turned 3 months old on the 18th of November...3 more months and we will be able to finalize our adoption and be sealed to him in the Temple, and have him blessed! We are so looking forward to that week! He got a little sick this week from all of the running around and being around so many people, so I stayed home from Church with him today so he could rest. Even though he doesn't feel very well, he is still so calm and sweet. It is just amazing to me.

A friend of Oma's gave me two tickets to the Friday night "Time Out for Women" last week. One of my best friends, Carley and I got to go and hear Sheri Dew, Brad Wilcox, and Hilary Weeks. It was an amazing night and I am grateful for the messages that were shared there. They were truly inspired, and I needed to hear them all.

Life is still full of trials and challenges. I am so grateful for this wonderful time in our lives and all of the happiness and blessings we have. But we are in no way immune to the trials and challenges that still find their ways into all of our lives. Overall, I am grateful for those challenges, because I know they make me stronger. But sometimes they are just a bit much to take all at once. I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who lovingly gave His Son, who loving sacrificed His life that we would be able to overcome the sins, the trials, and the pains of this life. Sometimes I am slow to remember that I am not alone. But They are always there for me, and I am so grateful for that. It is funny the cycle of learning I seem to go through--spiritual highs to lows, and everything in between. This life truly is a big lesson and a test of faith and enduring to the end. I am thankful for the Atonement that allows me to overcome all things, and I am grateful to know that I never am alone, even when I sometimes feel otherwise.

Our Handsome Little Man

Looking ALL Around...he loves to see new things now!

Three months old and growling BIG!

I've been meaning to do this forever, and I finally got to it!

A lazy Sunday morning...

Handsome, ready for Church

He fell asleep holding his binky in his mouth. Daddy sure loves his little man.

Our Visit With H

2011-11-06T18:58:00.000-08:00

In my chaotic Halloween excitement, I failed to note our visit with Kyson's birthmother, H we had earlier in October. We had a very nice visit with her and her sister. We met at Gardener Village and had a great time catching up. She is doing great in life and looks wonderful. We are so grateful for our dear birthmother and all she has given us.

This is one of my FAVORITE pictures of Kyson! Look at that adorable little tongue!

Kyson, Our Little Fish!

2011-11-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

Kyson loves to swim. I know he's only 2 1/2 months old, but he truly loves water--just like his Mommy. We have taken him swimming a couple of times now at my Oma and Opa's health club. He just loves it. No tears. He has also never cried during bath time. He has always loved splashing around and having fun. Recently we also discovered that He likes to take baths with Mommy so he can swim in a bit warmer water than what's in the pool. He's just so cute we had to share:

Hopefully our video of our swimmer uploaded successfully. But if it didn't, we are going to put it on Facebook too, so you should look it up! :-)

We love our little swimmer!

October Fun

2011-11-06T18:29:00.000-08:00

Well, many of you who know us know that Halloween is a favorite of holidays for us. A little over a year ago (yes, we think of costumes that far in advance sometimes), I came up with this “brilliant” costume idea for when we had a baby. At the time we did not know if we would have a baby by the next Halloween, but the stars aligned and we did! So, I dressed up like a spider, Kent was a spider web, and Kyson was a little bug, swaddled and wrapped to look like he was all wrapped up in my web, complete with little fang marks on his cute little head! Morbid? Yeah, maybe a little….but SO fun! I have to admit, I was nervous Kyson would see my scary, black-painted, eight-eyed face and flip out. But he didn’t seem to mind at all, as long as he was fed and got to sleep when he wanted to. We went to a cousin party with Kent's family and loved showing off our little "bug" to all of them. Fun times.

Isn't he a cute little bug?!?!?

My fun group of Cub Scouts and their siblings

We also took the Halloween opportunity to make a new favorite meal, "Witch's Brew," compliments of our friend Krista! We made a few different batches of this yummy dinner in a pumpkin!

We actually went a little nuts this year and had a couple different costumes. This is mostly due to the fact that Kent is in the Young Men's organization. For the 3 Ward Halloween Party we had at the Church, each auxiliary organization in our ward was in charge of decorating a room. Kent was over the Deacons, who chose to go with a Nerd theme, because Nerds are "the scariest things they could think of" (haha). Well I didn't want to dress as a spider without my web, so we all three dressed as nerds and showed up for the party, in character, complete with our nerdy boy genius, who was on track to be in college by age 3. Some people in the ward didn't even know who we were. We stayed in character the entire two hours we were there, which was exhausting but over the top hilarious! The boys loved it, too. Overall, it was a great party and we had a lot of fun. Kyson was amazing for the whole thing.

Our sweet little boy Genius! Love our Nerd!!!

The best part is those are my real glasses from when I was in high school! Ha! Thank you Lasik!

Sunday night before Halloween we also went to my uncle Kenneth and aunt Kathy's house for dinner. This was in no way a Halloween-themed dinner, but we decided to show up as nerds, in character anyway. It was funny. We only stayed in character a few minutes, but it was long enough to scare my cousin's 5-year-old enough that he wouldn't come near us. My grandpa, Opa loved it. In fact he asked to try on Kent's wig! It was great!

On actual Halloween (by the time Halloween actually arrived, we'd already dressed up three times as a family and Kent one extra time for school!), I had a Den Meeting/Halloween Party for my Cub Scouts. We decided since the boys had seen us on Saturday as Nerds that we would do the spider costumes. The party turned out great. We had lots of fun games and the boys and their siblings had a great time. As soon as it was over and we had cleaned up, we dashed home, scrubbed off our make-up, and dressed as nerds once again to attend a party with a few of Kent's cousins. We love to party Halloween style with the 5 Browns and their spouses...they are all just so much fun. We had a great time playing some hilarious games that I plan to incorporate into the next party I throw! Thank you Melody and Casey for hosting yet another amazing party!

The creepy cheese fingers I made for one of our parties!

So this is our "zombie," a combination of leftover cupcakes we brought to our party with the Browns after the Den Meeting party. The original cupcakes looked like this:

Scarecrow

And Skeleton

Kent also went to school on Thursday and Monday as "Professor Polynomial." He was an outrageous math/Hogwarts-esque character the entire school day, dressed in a cap and gown. The kids loved him, and the faculty did, too. He is one amazing teacher. I wish I could have had him as my math teacher! Lucky kids!

So, as you can see, Halloween is a favorite for us. Lucky for us Kyson seemed to enjoy it for the most part too. Well, until I decided to dress him up in all our hand-me-down costumes that won't fit him next year (poor, cute kid!):

Kyson's first Halloween!!!

Look at my little sweetheart!

Our little Tiger...

...And Lion...

...And Lobster...

Did I mention he HATED this one!?!?! Poor little one. Oh, but we love him! And two minutes after this pic was taken he was happy as can be.

On My Mind

2011-10-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

So I have been thinking about this post for awhile now. I have been wanting to write a few thoughts and feelings I’ve had about adoption in general and some of the “less-than-enjoyable” experiences we’ve had to endure. Of course to start, the whole battle of infertility is, at least for me, the most painful and hard to understand trial I’ve had to face. In case anyone that has not gone through any of this before was wondering: just because we have had the miracle of being able to adopt our amazing son Kyson, that DOES NOT mean that the PAIN of infertility that we have to face every day has magically disappeared. Maybe for some people, once they adopt, the pain goes away. But I know for me, and for many others in similar situations as us, the pain is still very real and very there. So if you know someone who may be facing something like this, please be sensitive to their emotions. Just because that pain is still there, does not mean we are any less than thrilled and so grateful that we do have our son. It is a hard thing to explain, and I think often unless you’ve gone through it, you may never understand fully. But it is possible to be the happiest you’ve ever been, while still feeling the deepest pain you’ve ever felt. And really, all we need is for people to understand that and accept it. Support is a wonderful thing and it often takes nothing more than mere acceptance.

A common, Oh! So Common comment that we hear, and I’ll admit, that we hope for is that “once you adopt you end up getting pregnant.” I’ve heard of it happening time and time again, and I’m sure so have you. And call us crazy, but we are really hoping for it. Like, now. If we were to randomly get pregnant with twins right now and end up having three kids less than a year apart, we’d be thrilled. Now to those of you who are parents of more than one child, I admit that if that were to happen, I’m sure I’d be asking myself, “What was I thinking, crazy!?!?” But regardless of the crazy, we would absolutely welcome that unexplained miracle to happen to us. Anyway, like I said, so many people have heard of those stories where a couple adopts and then finds out they are pregnant, that when they find out that we’ve adopted, that’s the first thing they like to share with us. We’ve learned to just go with it and play along. But if you are reading this and you know someone who is adopting or trying to adopt and you’d like a small piece of advice—we already know of that possibility. We really don’t need the extra reminders, I promise it’s on our minds already. Sometimes it’s just small, harmless comments like that that are meant in the best of terms that really cut deeper than one may expect. The best thing is to simply express your excitement for the couple and focus on the blessing we already have. Thank you for being supportive though, and know that if you’ve made unknowing comments to someone in this type of situation before, it’s okay. We know you only intend to help. Sometimes though the best way to help is to listen and not offer advice or suggestions or stories of what you’ve heard.

When you adopt a baby, regardless of race or genetics of any kind, that child is yours and has always been meant for your family. There is no difference to the parent between an adopted child and a biological child. You would go to the very ends of the earth for your baby and he or she is your own flesh in a very special way. So, if you know someone who has or will be adopting, IT IS NOT OKAY TO MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT THAT BABY POSSIBLY NOT BEING CUTE, OR SMART, OR ANYTHING, AND HOW IT WOULDN'T BE OUR FAULT BECAUSE WE DIDN’T PLAY A GENETIC ROLE IN HIS COMING TO BE!!! Sadly, I bring this one up from experience. And you may be shocked, thinking, “who could ever say such a thing?” But I promise you it happens, sometimes intentionally, most often unintentionally. But we have had close family and friends make very hurtful comments, among the worst being when they literally said, in "jest," “Well at least if he’s ugly you know it won’t be your fault, and we can make fun of him all we want since you had nothing to do with it.” REALLY?!?!? REALLY!??!?! Now I know the average person has the common courtesy and decency not to say something so horrific, but please, don’t even think this one. Our son is our son, regardless of how he came into our family, and that is offensive no matter what. Now, this is an extreme of extreme cases, but there are many other small comments that may to you seem absolutely appropriate and well-intended, but let me just say this. Comments like, “At least you didn’t have to lose your figure and get all out of shape for this one,” “Wow, you’re lucky, you got him the easy way,” “You look good for being 8 months pregnant” (knowingly said to a soon-to-be-adoptive mother), “Just relax and you’ll get pregnant,” “You have an open adoption? What if some day your kid says to you, ‘you’re not my real mom!'?” and so on and so forth…these comments hurt more than you can know and should be avoided if at all possible!!! We have heard all of these, and most adoptive couples have, too. We have learned to have thick skin, and I have especially learned to look at a person and recognize that most of the time they really are trying to help or be nice and just don’t know what they are saying. But like I said, these things have been on my mind, and I thought I would share my feelings in hopes to spare the feelings of even just one or two other couples in our situation. When in doubt, don’t say it. Ask questions, please ask questions. Adoption is often a misunderstood thing and we would love to shed more light on it for you. Don’t make assumptions, and please don’t try to give advice when what we may really need is a listening ear, or a sympathetic smile, or a loving hug.

Sister Julie Beck spoke at a recent Adoption Conference we were able to attend, and she told a story of a woman who tried for years and years to have children. Eventually, she and her husband were able to adopt several special needs children, whom they loved with all they had. Through tragedy, one of their daughters died at a young age, and not long after that, this poor woman lost her husband. She lived most of her life in poverty and faced many very difficult challenges, many involving her children. Years later, as she lay in the hospital, dying, Sister Beck came to visit her old Young Women leader. She visited with the woman, who told her she had really led a very happy life. Sister Beck thought about that. How could a woman who had lost so much so early, and had lived in poverty and pain most of her life say she had had a happy life? The woman explained, that every year of her life had been a joyful one, all but those ten years when they couldn’t have children. It was then that Sister Beck realized, that even after a lifetime of joys and sorrows, the pain of infertility had not left this woman or faded. Infertility is not a “come and go” trial. It stays with you. Even if down the road your circumstances change, those years of pain and grief remain. I am grateful to family and friends who have been willing to learn more about infertility and adoption for us. I am grateful to anyone who tries to be sensitive to those going through the painful roller coaster of it all, regardless of whether or not they can fully comprehend it. I hope that anyone who has read this post will understand that these are just a few things that have been on my mind, and I only want to shed a little light on a few things that are not typically discussed openly. If anyone ever has a question about something regarding these issues, feel free to ask me. Kent and I have decided to be very open about our trials, simply because it is comfortable for us, and we enjoy the support of the network we have developed, and we especially enjoy being able to reach out to help others who are in pain. We are not shy though, so if you don’t really want to know, don’t ask. We love adoption. I hate infertility, but I am grateful that my greatest trial has helped me to grow in ways I otherwise couldn’t, and especially that it has led us to our son.

In the Blink of an Eye

2011-10-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

Kent’s mom, Sheryl Brown Nixon, has been working hard for years now writing a book about her life since the tragic accident that left two of her sons paralyzed. We are so proud of her and the hard work she has put into this inspired work, and are happy to announce that it has been published! It is called, “In the Blink of an Eye,” and it is a very special book that can teach the reader how to truly cast his or her burden on the Lord. If you would like to read more about Sheryl, you can visit her website here. I have read her book and it truly is worth owning and reading over and over. It can change your life, and your perspective. To purchase a copy, go here.

Congratulations, Mom! We knew you could do it!

The Temple and Adoption

2011-10-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

When we found out we would be adopting our son in August, we knew that meant a change of pace in our lives as we knew them. And we were ready to welcome that change. But then Kyson came, and he has been so easy going and perfect, we have realized we really haven’t had to slow down all that much…yet. We know that in the next month or two that will most likely change a lot more, but we have sure been taking advantage of Kyson’s easiness and have been going all over the place trying to visit as many people as possible. We also have been taking him to all of the BYU Football games, which is just so much fun. He sleeps through most of the game, but when he’s awake, he’s just calm and enjoys looking around.

Last weekend we had the opportunity to be a part of something very special. Our dear friends Shaun and Lanette were able to finalize their adoption of their sweet baby girl Iris, and be sealed to her for time and all eternity. Kyson and I were able to attend their court finalization, which was fascinating and touching in a way I couldn’t have predicted. My brother Ki and his girlfriend Jaynanne babysat Kyson for us so we could go to their sealing in the Provo Temple. I was prepared to cry, but nothing could have prepared me for how special and sacred it really was. The moment they brought that sweet little girl into the sealing room, you could just feel the Spirit so strong. There was a beautiful chandelier in the sealing room, and that was the first thing she saw. Her eyes were just fixated on that light, and it was so precious. We are so grateful to Shaun and Lanette for allowing us to be a part of something so special. It only reinforced our excitement and anticipation for our own finalization and sealing, which will take place six months from when Kyson was born, near the end of February. We also got to go to Provo to be there when they blessed little Iris in Sacrament Meeting at Church. What a sweet, special event that was as well.

Adoption is such a special, inspired opportunity that we feel very blessed to have been able to take part in. We have met so many wonderful people on our journey, and most importantly, we have been led to our son. There is no question that he was meant for our family from the very beginning. He knows who we are in a way that is hard to explain. I know that he can feel our eternal love for him, and he has an amazing way of showing us his own love for us. A sweet sister from my home ward in Elma shared with me this quote:

Kent and I are so looking forward to the day we can go to the Temple and have Kyson sealed to us for time and all eternity. It is a very special opportunity that we will have to bring our son into the Temple for that sweet experience. Some dear friends of ours who adopted one of their three children explained it this way: it is like a “trade-off.” Although we weren’t able to conceive and bear this child in the traditional way, how special it is that we get to take him into the Temple to receive the blessings of an eternal family across the alter. And on the flip side, should we one day be able to get pregnant and bear children, how sweet will that birth experience be, no matter how painful. You either get to give birth to your child, or take him or her to the Temple. Both experiences are sacred and amazing, and it is just a tender mercy that no matter which way your children come to you, you will be able to enjoy one of those blessings.

Visiting My Family

2011-10-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Wow how the time has flown. Kyson is now 2 months old and things are just cruising along, but we are loving it all. We have been so busy adjusting to parenthood and visiting family and friends and working on random projects that keep coming up that blogging has gone to the far back burner.

But now I’m back, things are sort of settling down (ish), and hopefully I will be able to catch up and stay caught up.

The weekend of General Conference was an exciting one. My dad and brother Tyson were able to fly out here to see Kyson and to go to the BYU Football game to see my brother Ki cheer with the BYU Cheer Team. They stayed at our house and we had a blast. The first night they were here they actually took one of our cars and drove to I’m not entirely sure where and decided to camp out with our camping gear. It was awesome. We really wanted to go, but it was a little too chilly for Kyson, and Kent had work first thing the next morning. But they had a good time. Before the football game, my dad, Tyson, Kyson, and I went down to Provo and did a little hiking up Provo Canyon. We went up past Sundance a ways and hiked around a bit; it was beautiful up there with all of the gorgeous leaves changing for Fall—nothing quite like New England in the Fall, but still gorgeous. We also went to Vivian Park and hiked around a bit and my dad floated down a small stretch of the river…Brrrr! Kyson, Tyson, and I put our feet in and that was all. That was definitely enough for Kyson; he wasn’t very happy that I put his little toes in that cold water, but it was so cute!

Kent met is in time for the football game and we had a blast. My dad and Tyson had front row seats on the sidelines, and Kent, Kyson, and I had front row seats in the end zone—actually the end zone where all the action and the game winning touchdown took place! It was a fabulous game! And Ki is just so fun to watch on the sidelines…he does a great job down there!

Poppa, Uncle Ki, Uncle Tyson, and Baby Kyson!

Up past Sundance

"Poppa, you're crazy! That water's COLD!!!"

Go Cougs!!! (and Ki!!!)

Saturday morning we all had the chance to go to the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference at the Conference Center. Kent watched it in the Tabernacle with Kyson so I could watch it with my family. My dad and Tyson flew home Sunday morning after a very fun-filled, exciting weekend.

A couple days after they flew home, Kyson and I followed them to Washington to visit and so that my sister Lyska and my Nanny and Gucky could meet our little man. He was a champ on the flight. I gave him a bottle at take off and the landing, and he slept in between. He didn’t cry once the whole day and it was just so much fun. Kent’s sister Renae in Portland actually picked us up and we got to spend a few hours with her and most of her kids got to meet their new cousin. She and Jeff took us to Izzy’s for lunch with my nephew Robert and niece Amy. It was so great to see them and spend a little time with them.

My mom came and picked me up from Portland that afternoon and we drove to Elma in time to see Lyska march in the Homecoming parade with her Drill Team. It was a lot of fun seeing her being involved in the whole Homecoming thing…and I’ll admit it was a little weird being back for that. But it was a lot of fun, too.

Lyska and Tyson absolutely love Kyson. It is my favorite thing watching my siblings become Aunts and Uncles…these two especially are fun. Tyson just smiles nonstop when he holds him and Lyska can’t get enough of him. Well, no one can, really. And my parents are such cute grandparents. He is one very loved little boy.

Just before flying to Washington Kyson started smiling socially, but just a little. By the time we flew home to Utah, he was smiling much more, and they just keep getting better and better. He is also finding his voice, which is adorable. He is still a quiet little guy, but when he decides to talk it just makes our day.

Our sweet precious boy practicing one of his first smiles!

Unfortunately, while I was home, my mom randomly got really sick with the flu and was in bed for a lot of our visit. It was also Lyska’s 17^th birthday, so it was actually really a blessing I could be there to help out a bit. I got to make Lyska’s birthday cake. Their Homecoming theme was Board Games, and her Senior class had the game Clue, so I made a Clue cake that had things associated with her life. It turned out great!

I got to take Lyska out to dinner and a movie, just to two of us, for her birthday as well. My dad stayed home with Kyson, and he loved that. It was a fun weekend; but we all missed my mom.

Happy Birthday, Lyska!

My Dad and Tyson also went hunting while we were visiting. So when they got back we got Kyson in his camo and took some fun pics:

It won't be long before he's out there shooting, too!

It was great seeing friends both at the football game Friday night and at Church on Sunday. We wished Kent could have joined us, but we enjoyed our visit.

Monday was Nanny’s birthday and my mom was feeling a little better, so we went with Nanny and my Aunt Teri and cousin Tessa and her baby to lunch at Olive Garden. We had a great time there! Nanny loved holding her two great grandbabies on each knee.

Nanny and Gucky loved meeting and holding Kyson, too. Gucky was the first to hold him. He picked him up and started crying. It was a very tender moment. I am so grateful all of my grandparents have been able to meet our dear, sweet son.

Sweet Grandma with Baby Kyson!

Nanny & Gucky enjoying our sweet boy

Happy Birthday, Nanny! We love you!

Tyson and I also took the dogs out to the waterfall to do a reverse waterfall hike in the rain while I was home. We left Kyson in the house for that one. Taking a trip home just isn’t complete without some river hiking in the mud and bushes. I just love it.

Our flight home was equally enjoyable as the flight to Washington. After a week, it was so great to be back with Kent again! Kyson sure grew a lot while we were gone, and Kent missed us both very much.

I am grateful for my wonderful family and I am so glad we got to visit with them! We love you all very much!

Kyson on October 18th; 2 months old already!

He is one happy boy!!!

Kent’s Parents Come to Town

2011-10-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

When Kyson was born, my parents got to be here for just over a week, and it was so wonderful. A few days after they left, Kent’s mom came into town for just over a week. We had so much fun with her. We had no idea when we scheduled her visit how good of a baby Kyson would be, and that he would start off only waking up once or twice a night (he sleeps through the night most the time now!) So her visit to help us turned out to be very different than what any of us were expecting, especially compared to what she’s used to with going to help her daughters after they have given birth. Since I was feeling great and Kyson was so good and healthy, we did things like meet up with friends and go mini golfing at Trafalga! Crazy, I know! I also sort of volunteered her to sing a solo at our local Senior Center while I accompanied her on the piano. For the month of September, I volunteered to play the piano and do the musical number every Thursday at the Senior Center for their “Relief Society/Priesthood” meeting. It was a wonderful experience, and since she was in town for one of the Thursdays, I asked if she’d want to sing her song, “Angel of Light.” It was a great experience. We loved having her out here so much. She was a huge help! She also helped me make homemade raspberry jam…Kent’s favorite!

Then, a few weeks ago, Kent’s parents both flew back out here for a short work trip. We got to pick them up from and take them to the airport, but they stayed at Kent’s sister Raelene’s house. We still enjoyed going to our nephew Reed’s football game with them, and going to dinner with them and Kent’s grandparents. And we were especially glad they got to both see Kyson. We love being able to see and visit family!

My favorite part of the visit was that when we got together with Kent’s grandparents, we had four generations of Nixon boys together. Kyson is their 16^th grandchild, but their FIRST Nixon grandchild, since all the others are from Kent’s sisters and they have different last names! It was really special having those 4 generations together.

We don’t have any trips to Boston planned anytime soon, but I hope that we can find our way out there for a visit sooner than later. We love and miss Boston.

Kyson Kent

2011-09-15T15:36:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been 4 weeks since our amazing, precious, beautiful, pretty much perfect dear son Kyson was born. He arrived at 2:03pm on Thursday, August 18th. He was 9lbs. 5oz. and 21.5" long! We got the phone call from our Birthmother's mom about a half hour after he was born. We knew that the doctor had scheduled to break her water that morning, but we had no idea when anything would actually happen. When Kent got home from his half day of work and we still hadn't heard anything, we decided to load up the car and just head to Vernal anyway. It was literally after we'd started the car to leave that we got the call. We knew it was going to happen that day, but still, hearing that he was here was the most incredible, overwhelming, scary, yet magical feeling I've ever experienced. Our son was born! The thought, "You're finally here, my sweet boy" kept running through my head the whole drive to Vernal. And I will tell you, we have been on many, many long road trips together, but that would-be 3 but in reality almost 4 hour drive to Vernal was by far the longest, most agonizing drive of our lives! It did not help that we hit three different sites of major construction that added nearly an hour to our drive. It was so hard. I kept thinking, "I want to be with our son, just let us get to our son." And finally, we did.

We walked through the door to see a room full of people, H's family. H was not in her bed--despite having just given birth a few hours before and having an epidural, she was up walking and in the bathroom. At first I was so overwhelmed by all of the people I saw (7, not counting Kyson and H), I had no idea where Kyson even was. But then suddenly, one of H's brothers was at our side, placing Kyson in my arms. Even a month after that blessed moment, just typing it here still brings tears to my eyes. Our beautiful, dear, sweet son was just perfect. Our little boy, whom I'd dreamed about and seen several times before, was in my arms at last.

We spent about 48 hours at the hospital with Kyson, H, and her family. The hospital and wonderful maternity staff actually gave Kent and me a room to stay in free of charge the entire weekend, and we are so grateful to them for the fact that we did not have to leave our son at night. It was, of course, a long 48 hours given the circumstances. We got to help give Kyson his very first bath in the nursery, which was wonderful. The best part was that he totally pooped in the tub. Loved it! I did not get any sleep the first night there, and at 3am finally woke Kent up and we went for a walk. We ended up timing it accidentally well, as the nurses were just bringing Kyson into the nursery for his vitals, so they let us hold him and stay in the nursery with him until 6am. It was such a wonderful opportunity to hold, feed, and bond with our son. Even being just a few hours old, this sweet little spirit was so good. He really didn't even cry much at all the whole time we were at the hospital.

My mom and sister Katelyn were able to drive to Vernal to be with us on Friday. It was so good to have someone from our family there. Our caseworker did not make the trip out, and H's caseworker didn't come until Saturday around 11am, so it was a little difficult, but we managed.

Saturday, once the caseworker finally arrived, the paperwork and placement actually began. He started by meeting with H and her parents. Then he met with us. We then took a few minutes to speak with H, just the three of us, which was very emotional, but so wonderful. I just have to say that we are so blessed to have such an incredible, selfless, loving, and strong Birthmother. She has from the very beginning had so much faith and we are so grateful to her not only for bringing us Kyson, but also for being so level-headed and strong. We love her and are so proud of her and wish her the very best in her bright future. She will undoubtedly touch many many lives and do great things in her life. We love you, H!

After visiting a few minutes alone with H to thank her ahead of time, we made our way into her hospital room where she, her parents, and Kyson were waiting. Time for placement. My Mom was able to capture the entire event on camera, andKatelyn video taped it for us. The footage is priceless. I don’t think I willever be able to write anything that would adequately describe placement. Whenwe walked into that room you could immediately feel several things: the Spirit,so much love, and heartbreak. H and her parents were in tears, and themoment we walked in, so were we. H was holding Kyson, who was peacefullysleeping. She had tears in her eyes and she looked so strong, yet so scared atthe same time. It was hard to take in all of the emotions in the room. She tooka moment to gather her courage, and then she approached me and placed our dear,sweet son into my arms. I knew this would be an emotional event, but nothingcould have ever prepared me for the spectrum of emotions and the amount of loveand joy and peace that immediately flooded my being. I broke into tears andsobbed with H as she placed that sweet boy in my arms. I could feel herlove in her embrace and I will never be able to fully express my gratitude forthat sweet girl. The pictures that my Mom took of placement say well what wordscannot. You can see in her eyes before she hands him to me the pain, the love,the faith, everything. And then moments later, after she handed him to us, wesat down and gave her our placement gifts. In one of those pictures you can seea new look in her eyes: heartbreak is still there, but so is peace. She told usthen that she has always known that Kyson was meant for our family and no oneelse’s. She was convinced of that and I know that is part of what got herthrough all of this. We gave her a painting of Christ holding the hand of abeautiful little boy. We gave Kyson a picture book entitled, “If the SaviorStood Beside Me” with the same picture on the cover and told her that Christhas guided Kyson to us through her, and that He would always be there to guidehim throughout his life. We also gave her a willow tree figurine entitled“Remembrance.” It is an angel with her hands held over her heart. H isour dear angel on this earth, and we will forever remember her. We gave her andKyson matching giraffes so she can see pictures of him with it as he grows. Wealso gave her a copy of my uncle Tamar and aunt Katrina’s CD that has their adoption song onit, and a candle. We gave H's mom a glass block that said “LOVE” on it with thewords, “faith, hope, and charity” on it. It was a simple reminder of the loveshe had to be able to allow H to do this for us. It was such an emotionalexperience. There is anotherpicture just after this of H with her arm around Kentas he holds our son. It is one of my favorites because I know that H could have kept Kyson and been an amazing mother to him. But she knew that heneeded a father—a strong, worthy, Priesthood holder that would help raise himin the Gospel. She saw exactly that in Kent,and I believe he is a large part of the reason that she chose us. After a fewmore minutes of heartfelt, tearful goodbyes, we made out way out of the roomwith our dear son.

He is our son. He was placed with us on August 20^th, 2011 around 1:12pm. But he has been ours for much longer than that.He has been waiting for the right time to join our family, and he is finally here! Our love for him grows stronger each day. He is such a beautiful, perfect little boy and I strongly believe he is so content largely because he can feel all of the love that so many people have for him. His birth mother and her family love him and he will grow up knowing that that is how they were able to place him with us, and that is precisely why they placed him with us. We love him; oh, how we love him and have for so long. Our families love him and couldn’t be more supportive. Their countless prayers helped us all through that weekend.

Kyson is our miracle. After waiting with faith for so long,being tried and stretched beyond my limits, I have my beautiful son and myheart is overflowing as I hold him and love him and care for him. I thank theLord several times each day for the tender mercies that brought Kyson KentNixon home.

Summer Fun

2011-08-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, let me just start by saying I wrote this post several days ago and am only just now getting to posting it, and I will not be posting the pictures I was planning on posting...yet. BECAUSE...OUR SON, KYSON KENT NIXON IS HERE!!! He arrived yesterday, 8-18-11 at 2:03pm, 9 lbs. 5.2oz, 21.5 inches long and he is perfect. I am sitting in the hospital eagerly awaiting tomorrow morning, placement day. Once we make it through tomorrow I will be on here posting pictures like crazy. For now, I am sticking this up here simply to stay caught up. I feel crazy, but right now it's all I can do. We are beyond overjoyed with our beautiful son--he is perfect.

So...This summer has been an amazing one for Kent and me. We bought the 7 Peaks Pass of all Passes that gets you into 7 Peaks, Raging Waters, Trafalga, and a bunch of other events for free a few months back. We have had the chance to go to the water parks so much this summer! It’s been awesome. Utahns, we definitely recommend the Pass of all Passes. J

When my mom and siblings came out in July for our baby showers and stuff, we also got to go see the American Idol Top Ten concert. My dad was supposed to come, but at the last minute was unable to, so they gave me his ticket. Unfortunately Kent didn’t get to come, but I had so much fun with my mom, little sister Lyska, little brother Tyson, and little sister Katelyn and her hubby Steve. It was awesome. It was amazing how well everyone sang (minus Jacob, in my opinion). We had amazing seats and just had a blast. Scotty and Lauren are still favorites, but Haley and Casey are also just incredible. Here are some pics from the big night:

While they were in Utah, we celebrated my mom’s birthday by taking her out to lunch at Applebee’s and sending her on a fun scavenger hunt that started at the health club, went to the house, then eventually to Macy’s, where we bought her a new pan and some cookware. We also got her a massage, which she so deserved. Happy birthday, Mom, you’re the greatest!

My family spent two weeks here in Utah, and then it was time to go home. My sister Katelyn decided to drive home with them for a couple weeks and then fly back to Utah later. My brother Ki was also going to be flying home for a couple weeks. So I was going to be the only sibling not at home! So, Kent and I decided to take yet another impulsive trip up to the Northwest. We decided to surprise my family though. So Saturday night while my mom was attempting to pack up her car and realizing it wasn’t all going to fit, we took her aside and told her we were going to be driving home at the same time the next morning. So we snuck some of their bags and things into our car without my siblings knowing. Then the next morning we got up and left around 5:30am…about 15 minutes before my mom left. We ended up getting home about 45 minutes before them; just in time to hide the car, sneak in, completely surprise my dad, then sit on the couch and wait for everyone else to get home. It was priceless. Lyska walked into the living room first when they got home and was just in shock. Her jaw hit the ground and she was just kind of in shock and then started jumping up and down. We told her to sit down next to us, and then she called Tyson and Katelyn in, saying “Jimmer’s on TV!” Next, Tyson came running in, glanced at us, then the TV, then back at us and his jaw hit the floor and he was just speechless. So he sat down. Then came Katelyn. She ran in, looked at us, looked at the TV, and kept looking at the TV, confused because Jimmer wasn’t on the TV. It took her about 20-30 seconds, and finally she saw us and flipped out. It was so funny.

So Kent and I got to spend just under a week at home where we went wakeboarding, inner tubing, visited my Nanny and Gucky, and hiked around in our river. Kent and I also made it up to Seattle and were able to visit our friends Nate and Lacey and also go to the Seattle Temple. I love going home!

We’ve also had the chance to go camping a few times this summer. While camping, we discovered a new, delicious, fantastic camping treat: “S’mOreos!!! They are exactly what they sound like: S’mores on Oreos. Go ahead. Try it sometime. You’ll never want to go back. They are delicious.

Kent and I also got to go hiking to the Spanish Fork Hot Springs with Ki and one of his friends Drew. It is gorgeous down there and we had a blast.

This past weekend we spent in Layton at the FSA National Adoption Conference. Sister Julie B. Beck was Friday’s keynote speaker and she was amazing. And Dr. Karyn Purvis was Saturday’s keynote speaker—she is an incredible woman. We were able to go to so many different classes and network with so many people who are a part of the adoption world. It was an incredible weekend.

(So, sometime this week we will be parents. Our little boy is due on August 20^th, which is just a few short days away. We have had an incredible summer, but nothing we have ever done can compare to the excitement we both feel right now. We are so grateful to our dear birthmother, H, for all she is doing for us, and we can’t wait to welcome our son into our home! My next post will definitely be an update on everything that will be happening in the next few days. I can’t wait to share with you our bundle of joy whom we already love so very much! *Obviously this was written a few days ago, lol )

Showers and Showers

2011-08-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

So, as I continue to attempt to make up for oh so much lost time on here, I would like to spend a few minutes on the showers of baby showers I was lucky enough to have over the past month-ish. (Not to mention the oodles of real showers Utah has been getting! It's been raining so much I almost feel like I'm home in Washington! I love it!)

My first shower was thrown by some sweet friends of ours from our ward in Provo. We had this shower back in June, because we were moving to Salt Lake in June and wanted to have it before we left. So at the beginning of June, the showers began:

My "Baby Shower" cupcakes I made...I thought they were pretty fun and cute!

I want to thank Nadine and all of my dear Provo Peak 11th Ward friends for everything. I love you all and miss you so much! We so appreciate all you did for us. We had such a great time that day. I also want to thank our wonderful Birthmother H and her mother and sister for taking the time to come join us at my shower. It meant so much to have you there.

After that shower, H's family had a wedding reception to go to, so H spent the afternoon with us. We went to lunch at Cafe Rio, and went and saw a movie with my brother Ki and sister Katelyn and her husband Steve. That was also the day that Katelyn announced to us that she is expecting! So our little baby boy Kyson Kent (yes, that is what we are planning on naming him!) will have a cousin only 6 months younger than him! Yay!

After our Ward Baby Shower, we embarked on a crazy expedition of moving out/moving most of our stuff into the stairwell between our apartment and the downstairs apartment where our cousins lived, having our three nieces over for a sleepover, and then driving to California to spend a week and a half with Kent's parents, brothers Reed and Rob and Rob's wife Katie...all of this in less than one week! Hence, I will have to dedicate another post to that experience.

At the beginning of July, my mom, sister Lyska, and brother Tyson came out to Utah for a couple weeks of fun. We got to go to the American Idol Top 10 Tour, went swimming, to Raging Waters, played games, etc...and, of course, had more showers!!!

My incredible Aunt Kathy, and cousins Kristin and Renae threw me a shower at Kristin's home for my side of the family. It was beautiful, and so much fun to be there with my family and close friends! Thank you Kathy, Kristin, and Renae--I love you all and just think the world of you! H and her family came into town that weekend for this shower and for the one on Kent's side of the family the following day. It was wonderful getting to spend more time with her and her family, and especially for our families to finally get to meet one another. Unfortunately, both our dad's were missing, but other than that it was fabulous.

The wonderful group!

H's sister helping out with the Nursery Rhyme Jeopardy game!

My grandma, "Oma" in the middle with her sister-in-law and sister: my Great Aunt Sherrie and Great Aunt Bev

The delicious food and adorable "diaper cake" Kristin and Renae made!

Kent and me singing, "Sealed With Love"

BYU Freshman Friends: Krista, me, Amanda, Mandy, and Carley. Friends since 2005!

H and her mom and two sisters

My wonderful sister-in-law Raelene, and Kent's amazing cousins Melody and Deondra were sweet enough to throw me a shower for Kent's side of the family at Raelene's home. It was a beautiful sunny day that day, so we got to have it outside and it was lovely all around. So many wonderful cousins, family, friends, etc. Loved every minute of it!

Kent and me with H at Raelene's

The beautiful outdoor setup of delicious food

Singing our song

H's mom, sisters, my Mom, me and Kent

So, to all of you who were in any way shape or form involved in our showerings of love, THANK YOU! We love you! At both of the showers, Kent and I sang a song we had recently finished writing together about our adoption, entitled, "Sealed With Love." It is simply our love and our feelings regarding our adoption put to music we created together. I will try and record it and put it on here soon.

So, largely because of our dear family and friends, we....are....ready. Well, at least about as ready as we CAN get. We know that once our Kyson arrives, "ready" will fly out the window and be a mere joke forever more. But, we are ready for that! We have had such a wonderful four years of marriage together, and we are so ready to add to the love that is in our home and let the priorities in life change altogether forever. So Kyson, whenever you are ready to come and see what's in store for you, I repeat: We. Are. Ready.

Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh!

2011-08-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

My oh my, how far behind I am on the happenings of our lives these days. We have had some extremely major, extremely exciting changes in the past couple months. Let me start with the biggest and most exciting: WE ARE ADOPTING A BABY BOY IN A COUPLE WEEKS!!!!!! Yes, it is true, we have been selected by a loving, wonderful, selfless birth mother who is due August 20^th. We met her and her family in person for the first time at the end of April. It was an amazing experience getting to know them—we feel like we have known them all our lives, and I think we know why. She decided to wait a couple days after meeting us, until our Anniversary on May 4^th (Happy Four Years!) to call us. She started out by wishing us a happy anniversary, and then she went on to tell us that she had decided to place her baby with us. It was the happiest, most wonderful anniversary gift we could have imagined. We will be naming our baby boy Kyson Kent Nixon. Kyson is a combination of my two brothers’ names: Ki (Jakiah) and Tyson.

So…obviously we have much, much more to catch up on, and I will in the next several posts. But now, the meaning for my Blog Title today! Shortly after we were selected by H (for her privacy, this is how we will refer to our birth mother on here), we realized that we probably needed to go and register for baby things. Have you heard Justin Beiber’s song Baby? Well, that was the theme of our registry day. I just have to say that registering for baby things is a heck of a lot more fun than registering for wedding stuff! But before we actually went to Babies R Us, we headed over to F.Y.E. to buy a movie with a gift card that we had there. We walked in, and Beiber was not only playing over the speakers, but he was standing at the door, welcoming us in! Okay, maybe it wasn’t the actual Beiber, but it was a cardboard cutout of him that semi-freaked me out at first. We walked over to him, kind of laughing, kind of making fun of the cutout, kind of fake singing along to his song, when one of the workers at F.Y.E. came up to see if we needed any assistance. One of the first things he said to us was, “You guys look like Beiber fans. What can I get you?” We just sat there and laughed. What the heck does a Beiber fan look like, and do we really look like one? Perhaps you had to be there to truly understand the humor of the moment, but his comment just made our day. So we decided to go with it—today, we are Beiber fans. Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh!

Well, after a successful movie purchase (The Rescuers!) we hopped on over to Babies R Us and just had a clueless blast. Really though, we learned quite a bit in that excursion. Perhaps my favorite thing that we came across while there was in the keepsakes and memories aisle: a “Tummy Cast.” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they actually have a kit that you can purchase to make a cast of your pregnant belly!!! Haha, I couldn’t stop laughing! So, we decided to come up with different uses for this cast (not that I need one, but still). You could stick it in bed in your place when you get up to feed the baby and see if your husband notices the difference. Or, you could cut wholes in the boobs and stick bottles through them and have your hubby wear it and try and “nurse” the baby. Or you could stick it on your mantle as “modern art.” Or, my very favorite—invite friends over for a party and use the cast of your belly and boobs as a chips and salsa dish! Chips in the belly part, and two different types of dip in the boobs! Now, obviously I am kidding; but seriously people? Who came up with that? And who buys it? We did have a successful time there though. We found the cutest theme for our baby’s room—sports playing jungle animals. We had actually been joking about something like that existing, because we love sports, but animals are so cute too, when all of a sudden we come around the corner and there it is! But it was actually cute, not cheesy like we’d imagined!

Once we made it to the high chairs, strollers, and car seats, Kent and I realized we were feeling slightly overwhelmed, and very hungry. So we decided to go grab a bite to eat. I had been given a $10 gift card to Arctic Circle, so we thought it’d be a good day for that. Have any of you ever noticed though that Arctic Circle and Iceberg are a lot alike? They look alike, have the same colors, and pretty much serve the same food, more or less. Well, I had a blond moment and directed Kent to Iceberg, thinking that’s where my gift card was from. So we went in, and we ordered, and we both got shakes because we figured we could splurge with our gift card. When he totaled us up, I stuck my Arctic Circle $10 on the counter and slid it over to him, still oblivious to my mistake. The cashier looked at it, and then said, “Um, this is for Arctic Circle, you’re at Iceberg.” Wow. I was embarrassed. So, we paid for a meal ourselves and sat down and still enjoyed a great lunch, laughing a little more than usual. Suddenly, over the speakers in the restaurant, a song came on: “Baby, baby, baby, OH!!!!” We were like, “No way!!!” What a theme for the day of our baby registering. It was great. While singing along like the true “Beiber fans” we were that day, we also saw an unforgettable sight: two guys pulling out of the drive through on a motorcycle, the guy on the back trying his hardest not to look too gay, but while holding a shake in each hand. I don’t even know how to fully describe it, but it was hilarious watching him try and balance on the back without really touching his friend, and without spilling our dropping their shakes. Loved it!

So, as you can see, we had an eventfully hilarious day, learning the mere basics of what to expect in the very near future. It was such a fun, care-free day, that all these weeks later, I still remember our Beiber-ific day. I thought of the blog title that day in Iceberg, and I haven’t forgotten it. J We have since had so much happen that I can’t wait to share with you, but alas I will have to do so later, but soon.

Until next time, get up and get your Beiber on…you’ll like it!

Life's Little Miracles

2011-04-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

This past week Kent and I had the chance to go up to Primary Children's Hospital to visit a very special new little friend. Our dear friends Shaun and Lanette (whom we were blessed to meet through the adoption process) received their little one last week. The birth mother's due date wasn't until the end of the month, but she came early. Lanette and I had been at a Stake Relief Society meeting with Sister Bonnie Parkin, former Relief Society General President. I met Sister Parkin a few years ago when I was Relief Society President of my BYU ward. She is a gem--her motto is that we as Relief Society sisters are "Charity Chicks." That phrase has always stayed with me. Anyway, that night we got a text from Lanette saying they were on their way to the hospital! Their daughter Iris was born the next morning.

Iris had a few complications and was sent to Primary Children's for surgery. In the meantime, her birth parents signed the adoption papers, and on Monday after I got work, Kent and I got to go up there to meet her. She is an angel. Shaun and Lanette, we are SO happy for you two! You are already amazing parents. It was so special for Kent and me to be able to see how this little baby just belongs in their family. Adoption is an incredible thing and we are so beyond excited for the day when we can bring our little one home!

In this month's Ensign, there is an article on Infertility. If you would like to read it, you can click here. This article is an answer to many of my prayers. I have been praying for some kind of article in the Ensign or in General Conference addressing infertility for a few years now. I have struggled alone for so long with this trial; even though I've had Kent and a few close family members and friends there by my side, I still felt so alone. I know that anyone who has gone through the struggle of infertility knows what I mean. Unless you have gone through it, it is hard to comprehend the pain and the heartache and the grief that you go through. I never lost my faith, but at the same time I felt like others thought I had because I was having a hard time. I have always known we would have children, but that doesn't make the fact that we haven't been able to conceive yet any easier. Anyway, this article is a true tender mercy from the Lord for me. Also, the poem just after the article:

Just The Same

Sometimes—
God sends rain
Straight from the sky
To nourish the young flower
and it grows.

Sometimes—
God sends rain from the sky
To the mountaintops,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until it reaches the flower
and it grows, just the same.

Sometimes—
God sends a child
Straight from His realm
Into a mother’s arms
and love grows.

Sometimes—
God sends a child
From heaven to another’s arms,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until he reaches the arms of his mother
and love grows, just the same.
by Diana Lynn Lacey

This is exactly how we feel. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing us to pass through trials that He knows will help us to become who He knows we can be. I don't know what our future holds, but my love for our future children is already strong, and I know that we will have to opportunity to be parents and to raise our children in love and righteousness. To any of you who may be struggling with infertility, or with anything--you are never alone. With the Savior, you can do all things. 

We're Off to See the Jimmer...

2011-04-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

We love March Madness. It is one of our favorite times of year! Kent's family even has an annual bracket competition, with the winner receiving the travelling plaque with their name added to it! We have a lot of fun watching the games and having some mad fun!

Well, for those of you who don't know, one Jimmer Fredette of the BYU Cougars has been the talk of all basketball-dom this season, and for good reason! He is the rockstar of basketball, and he helped take BYU to the Sweet 16 for the first time in like 30 years or something! The night they beat Gonzaga to make it to the Sweet 16, we were watching the game with my brother Ki and one of my best friends Krista. We were all so pumped by the excellent win, that we got to thinking, "How cool would it be to be there?!!? I wonder how much it would cost? Where are the games? New Orleans? How long of a drive would that be...wait, they actually HAVE tickets for a decent price!?!?? LET'S GO!!!!!!!!" And so, on a very spontaneous whim, we bought four tickets to the Sweet 16s and Elite 8 in New Orleans, did some rocky financial guesstimates, and planned our trip! Sadly, a couple days later, Krista had to cancel--but she did get to go see her hubby TJ pole vault for BYU AND visit her family in California! Not to mention she got to fly....good trade!

The night the madness really started. Plus the fantastic bracket Krista and TJ printed for us!

The March Madness cookies we made one night with Krista!

So the night before we left we scrambled to find a replacement die-hard, semi-crazed Jimmer fan to join our cause. We found Kent's sister, Raelene, mother of 6! Her wonderful husband recognized the once in a lifetime fabulosity of the situation and convinced her to join us in our venture! So last Tuesday night, around 10pm, we embarked on a very long, very long, very roadtrippy roadtrip! Kent and I have made several cross country trips together, and, despite all sensibility, we LOVE them! Something about striving to keep each other awake while jamming out to classics like N'Sync, Tim McGraw, Wicked, Backstreet Boys, and EFY just makes my day. We drove about 20 hours through the night, and arrived at Kent's other sister, Natalie's house around 6 or 7 pm! Despite the long time in the car (Kent drove from 10pm-2am, I drove from 2am-6pm...both very tough shifts) then Ki drove a ton during daylight and Kent and I finished off with a couple shorter shifts, we were SO excited to see our ADORABLE nieces and nephew!!!!! Kent and I spent the evening running outside and "chasing" the girls on their bikes, and playing games with them inside. Then, in honor of old times, my brother-in-law Josh and I busted out the Rockband (last year when Natalie was pregnant with Jake and on bedrest, I spent a month with them helping take care of the girls, and Josh and I ended almost every night with hours of Expert-level Rockband!!! Loved it! We also, of course, enjoyed some one-of-a-kind Blue Bell ice cream....Yum!!! The only down side to this visit was that it was SO short! We love you Natalie and Josh and family and only wish we were closer!!!!!

Our adorable niece Ally singing her Taylor Swift, complete with her own choreography!

So Thursday morning we got up and were back on the road for another 8 hours...destination, the Big Easy! The drive was really fun...scenic and of course, musical. (Did I mention Kent and I LOVE to jam out to music when we are driving?) We got to our hotel (We stayed at a Wyndham timeshare of Raelene's, thank you!!!), checked in, painted up, and headed to the games! I painted a giant "Y" on Ki's chest, with "Jimmer 32" on his back. He, Kent, and I dyed our hair blue, and I put mine up in a sweet awesome cone! Needless to say, we were a sight and people actually asked to take pictures WITH us there...yes, even a couple Florida fans!!! The game was amazing, complete with an overtime! Sadly, we lost it in OT, with the help of some awful reffing, lopsided calls, and an all around off night on our part. But WE MADE IT TO THE SWEET SIXTEEN AND WE GOT TO SEE IT IN PERSON!!!! And thanks to Ki, we even got to ditch our nosebleed seats for a large chunk of the game and sit second row behind the Cougars!!!! Such a fun time! We stayed for the second game, which was a blowout and I really didn't pay much attention to. Ki found solace in someone's leftover fries they left on the ground behind us and declared them his "comfort food." That made my night right there. Ki was able to sell our Elite 8 tickets that night, so we decided to spend the next day in the city, and then head home. Before heading to bed that night, Ki and I went to the hotel's gym to burn off some frustration, and I ran 3 miles at 2am!!

"You got Jimmered!" The road trip crew!

"Jimmmmmerrrrrr....!"

"I made Kent a sign that said, "I quit my job for this!"In honor of him moving on from Craig's Cuts to teaching!!! Go Mr. Nixon!

We are big fans!

So we weren't the only die-hards from the Nixon family! Uncle Clair and his sons John, David, and Tim Nixon, our brother-in-law Josh, and us all met up at the half! We did win the prize for longest drive though!

Blue's the new blond...haven't you heard?

Friday was a fun day. We toured New Orleans and ate some good food, and enjoyed some time by the pool. The only thing I can say is that should you ever go to New Orleans, AVOID BOURBON STREET AT ALL COSTS!!! It made the strip in Vegas seem mild, and we couldn't get out of there fast enough. After that though we did have fun running around. Kent and I even frolicked a little and did some impromptu swing dancing in public! We also took a few pics with some bums....all for the cause of fun. We got some sweet foot massages at one of those foot places that have the pictures of all your organs located in your feet. Really weird, but felt oh so good! We also were lucky enough to come across the most amazing band of these young jazz banders jamming on the street! They played nonstop for about an hour and were incredible! We also enjoyed the random drunk man dancing to the beat in the middle of the street, haha. We ended the evening with our trolley ride back to our neck of the woods, and a delicious dinner at a favorite that Kent and I had discovered last time we were in New Orleans, called Cheesecake Bistro. SO Delicious! Kent, Ki, and I went swimming that night, then headed to bed early (well, everyone but Ki, who had a boatload of homework!). We got up Saturday morning a 3am and left for our would-be 23, turned out to be 29 hour trek home.

Skyline view atop our hotel

Posing with the silver man as he takes his smoke/beer break! He made $23,000 last year with his act!

Ki and Kent being "abstract" like the sculpture

Frolicking and whatnot in New Orleans

Music was in the air, so we took advantage. We even got cheered on by passers by!

Note the bums we are trying to impersonate? They thought WE were crazy! Haha, so fun!

"Y"

View from the pillars of the Mississippi! We almost got wet!

Karate Kid...ish?

Lost in Love

Such a cool tree!

Family shot!

Amazing street Jazz band!

And a foot massage to top it all off!

Kent and I started off the drive alternating about every four hours, while Ki caught up on some missing sleep. Then Ki took a turn and we recognized his true calling in life--doing anything that requires you to stay up for insane hours with a severe lack of sleep! Ki drove for something like 9 hours on Saturday non stop and with no problems! It was amazing! Not to mention he shaved quite a bit of time off our arrival time! Things were going splendid most of the day! Around 1 or 2am on Sunday morning, we decided to take a 24 mile, 30 minute detour to see the Four Corners (we've ALWAYS wanted to go there!) The best part: when we arrived, IT WAS CLOSED! Who knew? Apparently they are only open 8am-5pm, so for any of you ever hoping to see the Four Corners, go during business hours! We just laughed, took pictures by the closed sign, and continued our journey.

THE FOUR CORNERS!!!! After hours, Ha!

I drove for a good part of the wee hours of the morning, until about Price, UT where it started snowing pretty hard. I pulled over and had Kent switch me once the roads started getting pretty packed. As we made our way past Price along Spanish Fork Canyon, the weather got intensely worse, until it was a full on blizzardy white out!!!! It was so bad that Kent was staying on the road only by trying to stay on the rumble strip; that way we could assume we were in the middle of the road and not too close to the looming drop-off that was way too close for comfort! Finally, we decided to say a prayer. Literally as I was finishing asking Heavenly Father to please guide us to know what to do so that we could return home in safety, and saying Amen, we noticed lights reflecting in our rear view windows!

We had been the ONLY car on the road....and I mean the ONLY car! But as we closed our prayer, this truck with 4WD and better lights than us came out of nowhere (straight from Heaven!) and passed us to let us follow them. We were so relieved to have company out there, and recognized the answer to our prayer, and the tender mercy of the Lord. After only about a tenth of a mile though, the weather worsened even further and both of our vehicles were forced to stop completely. We waited for about ten minutes, but then finally decided to call 911. We were stuck in the middle of the road and didn't want to risk a plow truck not seeing us in time or something like that! 911 thanked us for making them aware of the road conditions, and just told us to be careful! Eventually, after almost an hour, we were able to inch our ways forward until we reached the summit and a gas station were several semi trucks and other vehicles were stuck as well. We waited there awhile, until a few cars started making their ways down the canyon. So we decided to just take our time and follow the tracks that had been left. Going between 5-10 miles per hour, it ended up taking us nearly 4 hours to make it the 39 miles to I-15!!!! So close, but SO far!!!!! So instead of arriving home at our original time of 4:30 am, we got home just after 8am. But, we GOT home! We were grateful for Heavenly Father's guidance and protection. And looking back, what an adventure! Having made it home safe, we really did have a fun time...what better way to end a road trip of insanity anyway, right?

Yes, THIS is some of the blizzard we were in, and that is the truck that saved us!

So, just after 8am, Sunday morning, and here was the start to my Sunday of Sundays:

I unpacked, put dinner in a crockpot, showered, and got ready. I left for my 10 and 10:30am appointments for visiting teaching, then went to my 11am Ward missionary meeting/visits. At noon I met with a girl from my Ward to practice our musical number for that day, then went to Ward Choir. At 1, Church started, and I accompanied on the piano my friend who played the oboe for the musical number. I was then asked to help teach Sharing Time in Primary for 2nd and 3rd blocks, which I did and which went well. After Church, Kent and I had Temple Recommend Interviews, then headed home in time for Kent to head back out for a Scout meeting. I finished getting dinner ready, and then did a mad dash to get the house in some kind of order, just in time for my grandparents (Oma and Opa) and Kent's Grandmother and Granddad to come over for dinner! We had a wonderful visit with them, and after they left, I'm pretty sure I collapsed. We are both still recovering from a crazy awesome week last week. Sadly, since I work at Primary Children's with kids all day, and Kent has been substitute teaching with kids all day, we inevitably got sick this week. But we are recovering and having the time of our lives still.

So, there you have it...yet another crazy adventure to add to our Wonderful Life together! Have a wonderful General Conference weekend everyone! I LOVE Conference and hearing the inspired words of our Prophet and those who serve with him!

Trusting In The Lord With All My Heart

2011-03-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was Kent's 28th birthday. On Friday we drove up to Idaho Falls and my sister Katelyn and I got our hair cut...Katelyn cut off 10 inches and donated it to Locks of Love! I got 5 or 6 inches off; fun change. Anyway, we stayed the night in Rexburg with Katelyn and Steve Friday night.

Our before shots

Katelyn, her new doo, and her old ponytail!

Saturday morning (Happy Birthday Kent!), we drove down to Idaho Falls to the LDS Family Services Agency, where we met Julianne and Shawn. Julianne was an expectant mother who found our profile online and contacted us about placing their baby with us. We had been emailing and texting a lot over the past month and decided a face to face meeting would be a great next step. I was very nervous on our way there, but the minute we walked in I felt great! They are both SO cute and SO sweet, and we hit it off right away! Kent asked them to show us some of their Kung Fu, and so they did! It was amazing! We met at the Agency for just over two hours. Kent did some of the Thriller dance and his Aladdin impersonations, Kent and I sang our song ("I Hope You Realize") together, and Kent sang a few of his other songs as well.

At LDS Family Services with Shawn and Julianne, two amazing people that we have been blessed to meet! We love them now and always.

After our initial meeting, we decided to go to lunch at Red Robin. In total, there were seven of us: Me, Kent, Julianne, Shawn, their friend Savannah, and Katelyn and Steve. I made Kent's birthday cake and after we ate they brought it out for us and sang. Julianne and Shawn were awesome and got Kent a sweet Ninja card and balloons. We had a wonderful time getting to know each other. From there we all went bowling. After that the five of us (minus Katelyn and Steve) went to the Idaho Falls Temple and visited in the Visitor Center. We saw some amazing artwork of the Savior, which was a wonderful and Spiritual experience. We had an amazing time talking about the Gospel and just enjoying the Spirit of the day. It was amazing how right everything felt, and we all felt so at peace, knowing that Heavenly Father had brought us together. On our way home that night, Julianne texted us and said that they would be honored to place their baby with us. By Monday morning, our adoption profile was on firm hold, meaning we had been chosen!

Our birthday group: Kent, me, Katelyn, Steve, Shawn, Julianne, and her friend Savannah.

In honor of working towards becoming a High School Spanish Teacher, Kent's chalkboard cake, complete with a cupcake apple, frosted pencil with chocolate chip tip, Fudgee eraser, marshmallow chalk, and powdered sugar chalk dust!

Us with Kent's "Chalkboard cake"

"Apple?...No thank you...It's good...Okay." hehe

Katelyn and me with our travelling "sisterhood" lucky elephant ring...wishing Lyska was with us!

Me and Kent with Julianne and Shawn, kindred spirits having a grand old time together!

Tuesday night we got a text from Julianne, so we called her and she was in tears. We talked with her and Shawn until 12:30am, after learning that she had started bleeding and was afraid she might be miscarrying. She had not yet been to the doctor, so we encouraged her to go in as soon as she could. She called me Wednesday mid-afternoon with the news: She had lost the baby. We were all devastated in different ways. Kent and I had from the very beginning decided to mentally and emotionally prepare ourselves for the possibility that something like this could happen. So although we were shocked and sad, we knew that it was just part of Heavenly Father's plan for all of us. We know that we were supposed to meet Julianne and Shawn, and we are so grateful that we were brought together the way we were. We had an amazing day with them on March 12th, and will cherish that day forever. We know that we will find our baby, hopefully soon, and that it truly is in the Lord's hands. We love Julianne and Shawn and know that this was out of any of our control. We think she was probably around 14-16 weeks along. Even though things felt so right with them, we know that these things happen for a reason. So we will continue in faith, adding this experience to the countless of others that we have had during this struggle to grow our family.

Everyone has trials, and each trial is individually unique and difficult in a very different way. But the lesson is always the same: If we "Trust in the Lord with all (our) hearts, and lean not unto (our) own understanding," "He shall direct (our) paths." I have faith that the Lord is guiding us. It doesn't always make the pain of our struggle with infertility less, but knowing that if we can respond to this very emotional trial with faith, utilizing the power of Christ's Atonement, we will grow and become stronger. It has not been easy. In fact it continues to be a daily emotional and mental challenge for me to face. When we started all this it never crossed my mind that one of my most difficult trials would simply be trying to become a mother. I want to be a mother more than anything else and can't wait for the blessing of raising our children, whom I already love more than words can describe. I have cried so many tears and had so many days where I've just wanted to give up and stay in bed. But whenever I reach the end of my rope, the Tender Mercies of the Lord find a way to bless me in ways I never could have foreseen. I know it will continue to be hard, "If life were easy, it wouldn't be hard." But I am grateful for the lessons I continue to learn and for the strength the Lord is blessing me with daily. I rely on Him in every way. Prayer is my pillar of hope. The scriptures and the Temple, and Priesthood blessings are real and they are there for me and for you. I do not love this trial, but I love the lessons I am learning, and I love the person that Heavenly Father is helping me become.

The Stinky Little Lamb

2011-02-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

So my sister Katelyn had to write a children't book for one of her Elementary Education classes at BYU-Idaho, and she asked me to illustrate it. It's called the Stinky Little Lamb, and it's based off of a story our Mom made up and told us when we were little! I've never drawn anything like this before, but I ended up loving it! So, here is a preview of what the pages will look like when she gets it published for her class! She did a great job writing it. It had to have an educational purpose, so she decided to focus on teaching the life cycle of a butterfly.

As a tribute to our parents, this last page has a couple little extra details. Every night when we were little, when our Mom came to tuck us in, she would bring us an apple slice. I know, we should have crazy cavities, but as it turns out I've never had a cavity! Anyway, Katelyn and I have lots of fun memories of sharing a room and seeing who could chew the quietest, etc. So there is an apple on the nightstand in honor of our Mom. Our Dad used to tell Katelyn her own special bedtime story about Marshmallow Men, so the Little Lamb falls asleep dreaming of a Marshmallow Man in honor of our Dad.

This was such a fun project! I'm excited to explore my abilities in the art department further--so much fun!

Hoping To Adopt

2011-02-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

We want you to know how much we admire you for your strength and courage during this time in your life. We can’t imagine what a difficult decision this is for you and we hope that you will be comforted as you consider what will be best for you. As you think about the decisions you are being faced with right now, we would like to take the time to tell you a little about ourselves.

How We Met, by Kayla

Kent and I met at Brigham Young University on January 16, 2007. I was studying pathophysiology in the common area with a friend when Kent came and sat at our same table. I was teaching my friend a way to remember the difference between “malignant” and “benign” by explaining that in Spanish, “mal” means “bad” and “bueno,” which means “good” sounds like “benign.” My reference to Spanish caught Kent’s attention from across the table, because he was a Spanish major. That struck up a conversation between the two of us, which led to Kent asking for my number. We went on our first date a few days later and spent every day after that together. Kent proposed to me two months later on his birthday on March 12^th, and we were married a month and a half after that on May 4, 2007. Growing up in a very small town with no real restaurants, Kent loved taking me to new fun places to eat. We went on so many fun, creative dates, like snowboarding, seeing a ballet, or going on a “pirate” themed group date. We still love to go on fun, creative dates. We also love watching movies together. From the very beginning, Kent and I got along so well and had so much in common; everything was so natural. We set goals and talked about the future from pretty early on, so even though we didn’t date for a long period of time, we knew one another very well and knew we were meant for each other. Today we continue to have fun in everything we do together. We cannot wait for the opportunity to add children to our happy little family.

A Little Bit About Kayla, by Kent

Kayla grew up in the logging roads of Western Washington. She is the oldest of five kids and is the best big sister imaginable. Ever since she was a baby, Kayla has loved water. She learned to swim at an early age and has since become as close to a mermaid as possible (minus the scales J ). Her mother taught her to play the piano, to sing, and to perform in front of audiences. She still gets nervous right before, but always performs tremendously well. Kayla has always gone above and beyond typical expectations. She was the most involved student at her school and excelled at the same time in her academics. She even had the honor of being Valedictorian of her high school. Kayla is extremely motivated. She can multi-task better than anyone I’ve ever met. The way I usually explain Kayla’s ability to someone who has never met her is, “Kayla can do more on her worst day than most people can do on their best day.” I truly believe that Kayla can do anything. Kayla has an amazing love for others, particularly those in need. She employs all of her talents for the benefit of those people. When my sister was on bed-rest during the last trimester of her pregnancy, my brother-in-law broke his collar bone, which made for a difficult situation for them to parent their three little girls, ages 6, 4, and 3. Kayla was in a position where she could take time out of her schedule to help out, so she flew from Boston to Texas to help my sister’s family for just over a month! She was “the best aunt!” She took our nieces to the park and fed the ducks, went bike riding, jumped on the trampoline, made dinners, read stories, took the oldest to school, and essentially served as a “stand-in mom” when my sister couldn’t be.

Kayla is a very loyal friend. Nobody has loved me and supported me more than she has, and I know that she will give the same love to our children. Being the oldest child in her family, she already has significant experience in caring for and teaching her younger siblings. They love her so much! Kayla is very aware of the feelings of others and empathizes with those that she is consoling. Kayla is very upbeat and energetic. She inspires others to excel in their talents. She is witty and goofy. She can always make me laugh to the point of tears. I know she will raise our children with sound principles, humor, and active fun. She is so excited to teach, guide, and love our children. Kayla is very sensitive to the Spirit and strives to follow the promptings she receives. She truly lets the Lord guide her life. I am so grateful that she is my wife. I know that the Lord blessed me with my perfect match. Kayla is the greatest blessing in my life, and I know that she will be the best mother I can imagine to our kids as they grow up in the Lord.

A Little Bit About Kent, by Kayla

Kent is the youngest of six kids in his family. Almost 16 years ago, when he was 12, he was in a car accident with his two brothers, a sister, and four other kids. His two brothers were 16 and 17, and they were both up front in the van. When the van flipped over it broke both of their necks, leaving them paralyzed. Kent suffered minor injuries but walked away with no lasting effects. His brother Reed is still on a ventilator. He cannot feel or move anything below his neck and requires 24-hour care. His brother Rob cannot move his hands or triceps, but has the use of his biceps and has trained himself to be able to push his own wheelchair and take care of himself completely on his own. Rob has his Master’s degree in Accounting and got married three months after Kent and I did in 2007. Kent grew up taking care of his two older brothers. He and his family chose to overcome that challenge in life by sticking together and staying close to God and their religion. Because of the things Kent has gone through in his life, he has become the most amazing man I’ve ever known. He always puts the needs of others first, sacrificing anything he can to help those around him. He is a hard working man with such a tender heart. He has spent much of his teenage and adult life caring for his brothers, never complaining about working through the night or having to stand and do tedious jobs like turning pages for Reed when he wants to read a book, or going through Reed’s baseball card collection when he wants to look at cards for sometimes hours at a time.

By nature Kent is a complete people person. He loves talking with people and genuinely cares for everyone he meets. He has a smile and a light about him that is contagious. He loves the Latin culture and is fluent in Spanish. He spent a summer in El Salvador working as the Country Director of a humanitarian project. He always volunteers to serve in whatever way he can. He has a natural gift with children. I have seen him play with and care for his 15 nieces and nephews countless times. He knows how to be a friend and mentor to children in a way that teaches them valuable lessons while still having the time of their lives with Uncle Kent. He is such a fun-loving, outgoing person and anyone that knows him adores him. He has a real gift for singing and writing songs to play and sing on his guitar. Kent is loyal, compassionate, dedicated, honest, loving, happy, and sincere. He treats me with the utmost respect and he will make the most amazing father. I know he will help me raise our children in love and righteousness, teaching them and lovingly guiding them along the way.

A Little Bit About Us

We are so excited to add a child to our family! We have so much love to share and look forward to the day our hopes become reality. We love music—it is a major part of our lives and we have so much fun singing and playing our instruments together. We love Spanish—Kent graduated with a degree in Spanish and is fluent, and I am continuing to learn the language, as we hope to teach our children Spanish as they grow up, and we hope to be able to volunteer in Latin American countries together as a family. We love the outdoors—hiking, wakeboarding, snowboarding, anything outside! We love sports—basketball, soccer, football, swimming, baseball, hockey, and so much more! We love to travel—we’ve been on several cross-country road trips and to several countries together and look forward to traveling with our kids. We love kids—playing with our 15 nieces and nephews is one of our favorite things and we can’t wait to be able to play with our own children! We love the Gospel of Jesus Christ—being active members of our Church is central to everything else in our lives.

Adoption Is Very Special To Us…Thank You

The decision for us to adopt was not one that we made on our own. In fact, there was a very specific, very special spiritual experience that we had that led us to this decision. We have acted on this and several other promptings to adopt and know this is the right thing for us right now. Should you consider placing your child with us, we would love to share this sacred experience with you. We know that adoption is an inspired decision. We pray daily for the birth parents of our future children and we know that in time we will be led together.

We look forward to having an open adoption with our birth parents. We are open to letters, pictures, emails, phone calls, and scheduled visits. We feel it is important for our children to know where they came from, and that they are and always have been loved. We are excited to establish a further relationship with you as we get to know you. As birth parents, you will always hold a special place in our lives and in our hearts. We look forward to meeting you and want to thank you now for giving us something so special that we could not do on our own. Thank you.

With Thanks, Love, and Hope,

Kent and Kayla

Weekend Fun With Dad and Tyson

2011-02-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my Dad and Tyson got to come into town for a visit. I picked them up from the airport after work on Thursday.

Just before my Dad came into town, Kent got to take the Young Men in our ward cross country skiing. He had a great time with the boys!

While Dad and Tyson were here, we went to the BYU game to see Jimmer and the Cougars! Tyson got to get a pic with Cosmo the Cougar. It was a great game!

And of course, my Dad had to check out my brother Ki's new bike...I think he approved.

And so did Tyson...

We also got to go hike Bridal Veil Falls, which was frozen over. It was breathtaking up there!

We even found a couple make-shift "ice caves" between the frozen falls and the rocks. They were so cool!

Peek-a-boo Dad!

Tyson in one of the caves!

We also got to have yet another day of snowboarding/skiing with my Dad, Tyson, and Ki. As you can see, it was a beautiful day at Sundance!

Since Kent wasn't able to join us for the Bridal Veil Falls hike, we decided to go back a few days ago. Things have melted a bit, but it was amazing nonetheless!

Photo-op

There were some awesome ice pickers climbing the entire waterfall! It was amazing!

So here is an update on us done mostly with pictures! But of all of the fun things we have been up to lately, we have some news that is even more exciting than all of these pictures: WE ARE APPROVED FOR ADOPTION!!!! We are SOOOO excited to begin the next step in this process! You can visit our profile at www.ItsAboutLove.org; our Profile ID# is 25438298, or you can search our names! We will be sure to keep you up to date on our amazing adventure! I plan to be better at updating our blog more regularly--call it a late started New Year's resolution! Love to you all!

Nixons Join Forces With Dicksons...Happy Birthday, Kayla!

2011-02-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

For my 24th birthday weekend, Kent and I took a trip to Rexburg, Idaho to visit my sister Katelyn and her husband Steve! When we walked into their cute apartment, they had balloons and a birthday cake for me! In honor of our plans to go snowboarding later in the weekend, she made me a snowboarding cake! It was AMAZING! She took little GI Joe guys and frosted them into boarders...so cool!!! Thank you Katelyn!!!

Haha, I just have to say that Kent and Steve look like brothers here!

What can I say, we have a lot of fun together.

On Saturday the four of us headed up to Targhee for an awesome day of boarding!

It may be hard to see, but in the middle of this picture, just above the smaller trees, Steve is flying. He found a sweet jump at the end of the day and decided to give it a shot. He cleared the trees and landed about three feet from where I was taking the picture! It was insane!

It was such a beautiful day up there and the powder was great!

We had fun looking for fun jumps and found this awesome run that was like a roller coaster on a snowboard! Steve took pictures of me, Kent, and Katelyn taking a shot at it.

Go Kent!

We had such a great weekend with the Dicksons. Being 24 got off to a great start for me!

It's Time For The Circus!!!

2011-02-22T10:36:00.001-08:00

So four years ago, when Kent and I were dating, we were eating at a restaurant and I saw a poster for a Circus. I'd never been to a Circus before, and so I said something to the effect of, "Oh, that looks like fun!" Anyway, it was really just a comment in passing, but Kent took notice, and the next thing I knew, we were picking up four of our nieces and nephews and taking them to that Circus! Kent surprised me and didn't tell us where we were going until we got there, and we had a blast! Well, in January, the Circus returned! So we decided to recreate that date four years ago, plus an extra niece and nephew and my cousin Joey and his date! So we took six kids to the Circus and had so much fun!

Yes, this bear is riding a rocking horse!

Kent and Kristian Kent having fun watching all of the cool acts!

The kids LOVED cousin Joey and Uncle Kent...they were so fun with them!

We couldn't quite convince Kristian to take a picture with us, he was having too much fun watching the elephants and mini ponies! These kids are growing up SO fast!

This clown was hilarious! You can tell by the look Reed is giving him, haha.

Look at these elephants! They were amazing! They did things I didn't know elephants could do!

Yes, those are guys riding motorcycles inside that ball! At one point there were four bikes in there riding around! Insane!!!!

So, we had a wonderfully good time with our nieces and nephews! Hopefully this tradition will be something we can repeat in years to come!

Playing Catch Up...Merry Christmas!

2011-02-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

So I am sorry to say I have fallen severely behind on my blog at a time when there is so much going on in our lives! So consider this the beginning of lots of catching up!

So a wonderful highlight of a few months ago is that our beautiful niece Cecilia (aka Cece) was baptized! She is such a sweetheart and we are so proud of her! Her older sister Rachel sang at her baptism and it was not only beautiful, but also so precious, heartfelt, and it brought the Spirit into the room so strongly! We love living so close to six of our nieces and nephews! (we SURE do miss the other nine though!)

Merry Christmas! We went and visited Temple Square right before Christmas. It doesn't matter how many times I've been there, I love this tradition every year we get the chance to do it!

We Love the Lights!!!!

We were home for Christmas...to my parents' home that is! We had such an awesome time with my family! We went skiing/snowboarding, played lots of games, went exploring out in the woods in our "backyard," and just had so much fun! But we missed having Katelyn and Steven there with us!

And of course, we had the traditional Dad riding a motorcycle into the living room after we opened presents! Only this time, it was a new bike that WAS one of the presents! I love that bike!

I love Lyska and Tyson, my youngest sister and brother. You guys are so much fun!

My wonderful parents..."Will you accept this rose?" haha, Dad found a rose in the car that had been for someone else, but he decided to go with it and gave it to Mom--it was cute!

Sailboating with family and friends! My cousin Joey and my Uncle Joe took a bunch of us sailboating while we were home. It was wet and rainy and cold, and we had a blast! (growing up in Washington teaches you to live in the moment regardless of what the weather is doing)

We stopped in Olympia for lunch and got to play in the water fountain for a few minutes! Loved it!

The group (left to right)--My brother Ki and his date, our dear friends Krista and TJ, Kent and me, Joey's date Tiffany and my cousins Joey and Tessa. Thank you Uncle Joe (he took the pic)

We had a wonderful Holiday season! Kent and I got to take part in our Stake Choir and Orchestra. We performed before going to Washington for Christmas. We sang in the Provo Tabernacle about a week before it burned down. We are grateful we had one last opportunity to be a part of something in that historic building, and we are sad for its loss. When Kent was on his mission in Provo, he got to direct the Utah Provo Mission Christmas Fireside with all of the missionaries and community members in the Tabernacle. He has many fond memories of that place!

Before going to Washington, I had an interview with Intermountain Healthcare at Primary Children's Outpatient Clinic in Riverton as a Medical Assistant and I got the job. I started at the beginning of January and am really enjoying it there.

We celebrated the New Year by driving home on New Year's Eve. We had all kinds of excitement that lengthened the drive--there was a train wreck along I-80 that caused them to close a 75 mile stretch of the freeway and gave us quite the detour on icy, curvy roads. The funny part is that we were able to get back on the freeway in time to actually see the train wreck! It was pretty crazy, with cars accordioned up just like on a movie! Unfortunately we didn't get the camera out in time. So with all of the delays, we hit the new year literally as we were pulling into Provo. We even got to see a couple firework shows from the freeway! It was unique, but so fun!

We are so grateful for wonderful family and friends that make up what matters most in our lives. We are grateful for the Gospel, which is what makes up the meaning of our lives. We have been blessed with so much and have had so many wonderful opportunities. We are grateful for each new day and the adventure it brings!

Dec 2009 Oct 2010

2010-11-03T21:19:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

It's the Beginning of a New Nixon Adventure!

2010-10-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how negligent I have been on my posting since we moved to Utah. It's been on my mind, but each day that passes only makes the idea of "catching up" more overwhelming. In fact, I have something big, something HUGE that I have been so excited to announce, that I don't even know HOW to announce it! So, here it goes I guess:Many of you know that Kent and I have been struggling with infertility for the past 3+ years now (yes, we started trying 3 short months after we got married). It has been such an emotionally trying roller coaster, each day adding a new unexpected twist, dive, or turn. We have seen a wonderful infertility specialist, tried the fertility drugs, and even Artificial Insemination (IUI), all to no avail. While each of us tests healthy and "completely capable of conceiving," it's just not happening for us, yet. It has been the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father for helping me through even my darkest hours. Though it continues to be difficult, both of us are growing in ways we never could have imagined.
Several months ago, we had a very personal, very spiritual experience that led us to the decision we have recently made to adopt. That's right, we have officially begun the adoption process through LDS Family Services and we couldn't be more excited! We met our caseworker last week, paid the deposit, and turned in a good chunk of our paperwork. We have attended half of the required training, and are expecting to be approved by December! We are so excited that it is hard to put into words. I will be writing a lot about our adventures, lessons learned, etc. as we continue this process. We are praying for our little Miracle to find us soon. I am excited to talk to you about our experience, so don't hesitate to talk to me! Thank you to our loving family and friends for their support; while we are brand new with this whole experience, we have already learned so much and are looking forward to this wonderful beginning to a new Nixon adventure!

Get a Great, Cheap Haircut at Craig's Cuts!

2010-07-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Kent and I are back in Provo! Kent has partnered with his friend Craig Guincho, founder and owner of Utah Valley's Craig's Cuts! We got straight to work and are already loving it! If you live in the Utah area, or come for a visit, stop by one of our five locations for a great, inexpensive haircut! Cuts are $7.00, except on weekly budget days when they are $5.00.

We are also giving back to our community by hosting a Dodgeball Tournament Fundraiser on September 10-11. Proceeds will go to the Provo Boys and Girls Club. Registration begins July 31st. You can go to www.craigscuts.com to print a Registration form (starting July 31) and then drop it off one of the locations listed on our website.

We are so happy to be here and look forward to seeing you at Craig's Cuts!

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

2010-05-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

After walking 26 miles, and after Kent's awesome Red Sox performance at Reebok World Headquarters! See all the blue tents in the background where we camped!?!
Yes, we were tired...but it was oh so fun!

After the "doctor" "drained" my blister and ended up cutting my heal instead! Ouch! Then they loaded up my blister with Zinc cream! Weird!

One of the many beautiful sights along the route in Boston

After signing the big inflatable...thing.

I can't believe I haven't posted since Kent's birthday! A lot has happened since then. One of the major accomplishments we've had is our Avon Walk for Breast Cancer that took place May 15-16 in Boston. Kent and I each raised a minimum of $1,800--together we raised nearly $4,000! We comprised "Team Nanny," as we walked in honor of my wonderful grandmother Nanny who is currently fighting hard against breast cancer. We raised the money, thanks to so many wonderful family and friends who were so generous and supportive, in two months!

The walk began Saturday morning at UMASS Boston. We had to be there at 5:30am, so we were up by 4:00am to turn Reed before heading out the door and into the darkness! We didn't get to bed the night before until 12:30am, so yes, we were tired. But the Opening Ceremonies were wonderful, as was the entire event! Over 4,000 walkers raised $5.8 million! We began walking around 7am--26 miles in ONE hot day!

By mile 17 I had developed some pretty decent blisters. We stopped by a medical station to have them drained and dressed. The lady that was helping me was actually an emergency doctor, so I figured I was in good hands. But then I heard her say, "...but I'm still learning how to do blisters..." Not long after that, the scalpel she was using to drain my big blister on my heel was digging in even further! Sure enough, she cut my heal with that blade, not once, but TWICE!! OUCH!! It hurt so bad! She then did a terrible job wrapping my blisters, and not a mile after that I had to stop and undo that job. Fortunately at the next medical station 3 miles later there was an amazing Athletic Trainer who knew what to do and she saved me so I could finish the 26 miles! Kent didn't get blisters, which still boggles my mind seeing how I'm the one that did the training! However, after 26 miles, his legs and muscles were dead tired, and mine were fine; I just still can't believe I got all the blisters!

At our "Wellness Village" after the 26 mile walk on Saturday (can I just say it was awesome to walk across THAT finish line!) they had a booth with massage chairs and foot massagers going on, along with Yoga that we did not attempt, and several other cool booths. They had several semi trucks full of hot showers that we used, and since Kent and I were among the first 500 or so walkers to arrive, we didn't have to wait in the enormous shower line that formed later in the evening, thank heavens! We, along with most of the walkers set up 2-person tents at the Reebok World Headquarters where we had ended for the day and camped for the night. It was an awesome and fun experience! We were blessed with the most perfect weather the whole weekend and everything turned out really nice!

After eating some dinner, Kent also had the opportunity to perform for many of the crew and walkers at "Fireside Follies." They had sent out a mass email weeks ago saying they were looking for one performer for every location to show their talent during the Fireside Follies. I had sent them an email about Kent and his amazing-ness, hoping he'd get a chance to sing, but I never heard back from them. I figured they had found someone else, so no big deal. On Thursday before the walk, I got an email from the guy, apologizing for the delay in response. Apparently my email had gone to his Spam and he'd never received it! Turned out they were still looking for someone for Saturday night! I quickly responded with a clip of Kent's Red Sox song, "East Coast Genuine Girl," but then again, never heard anything back. Friday night at Event Eve and Check-in, we asked some amazing volunteers at the Info booth about it, and one amazing guy, Dan Cooney from San Francisco, called the head music guy up and let Kent talk to him. The conversation more or less went, "So, can you sing?" "Well, I think so. My wife submitted my song to the Red Sox last season and they actually played it at Fenway during one of the games, so..." "That sounds good enough to me. You're in." Well that was just the start to an awesome opportunity! Kent did get to perform, and yes he CAN sing! The crowd loved him! All that night and the next day he had people coming up to him saying things like, "Great job last night!" "I LOVED your song!" "Where can I download that song?" It was so much fun for both of us! We even got to wear our Red Sox attire for the performance, including my "Real Women Don't Date Yankee Fans" shirt. What a wonderful memory!

After a fair night's sleep, the walk continued Sunday morning for another 13 miles--totalling 39 in all. However, because Kent and I are in the middle of fertility treatments and injectible hormones (yes, I get to give myself shots every day), I had a scheduled ultrasound and bloodwork appointment that I couldn't miss on Sunday morning! We had told the walk staff at check-in on Friday about my 9:30am appointment in Lexington, and they said no problem; I could take a shuttle bus from the beginning to near the end, walk the last couple miles to cross the Finish Line, because you just CAN'T miss that experience, I could go to my appointment and be back for Closing Ceremonies. So we woke up Sunday morning around 5am assuming everything was great. Well, we were wrong. As we soon found out, apparently, the first shuttle wasn't even leaving the camping sight until 9am, and it was only going to the halfway point for lunch! They had no shuttles or "sweeper buses" scheduled to arrive at the finish line where our car was conveniently parked until at least noon! After a few frantic phone calls, and some amazing crew volunteers who took pity on us, the director of the whole event came over. We explained our situation, and she said, "Give me ten minutes." Sure enough, she was able to find a volunteer driver who was already parked where we were waiting. He came and picked us up and took us all the way to our car, literally! It was amazing! We got to my appointment early, didn't have to wait, and got done in time to make it to Church at the Boston Second Ward! We got there early enough to change without many people seeing us run into the bathrooms, and we were sitting in the chapel a good 25 minutes early! By a quarter to 11, when Church was supposed to start, there still were only like 5 of us in there, and no prelude! I told the Bishop I could play, and he took me up on the offer and I got to play prelude for them! The organist showed up just as the meeting was starting, so he relieved me of any further duties. I came back to mine and Kent's pew to realize he had been asked to help pass the Sacrament with the missionaries and a Deacon! Needless to say, we were glad we were not only able to make it to Sacrament meeting, but also to serve a little along the way! We left Sacrament meeting a few minutes early and were able to make it back to the Closing Ceremonies sight just as the first walkers were crossing the finish line. We had been told we'd be able to have a shuttle take us back on the route a few miles so we could get as much of the 13 miles in as time allowed. But when we arrived and asked about that, we were given the run around and finally were told that could not happen. So, instead of just sit around, we decided to start walking at the Finish Line, and walk the route backwards until we found the caboose, then turn around and retrace our steps back to the finish line with the rest of the walkers! We had tons of walkers telling us, "You're going the wrong way!" and stuff, but in total we were able to get about 5 miles in on Sunday, AND cross that Finish Line, which really was amazing. I finished the remaining 8 miles Monday morning at the gym.

Closing Ceremonies was again a wonderful experience. I can't wait to go home and show Nanny the videos we took of the whole weekend! The route itself was breathtaking--especially Saturday morning and afternoon! We got to see Boston in a way we never would have been able to, and this truly was one of the most memorable things we have done in Boston while living here!

I want to thank everyone who helped Kent and me reach our goals and be able to take place in this walk for Breast Cancer. We met some incredible people along the way and it really did change my life.

Gangsta Rapstas and Country Hicks

2010-03-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Kent

2010-03-22T07:14:00.001-07:00

Happy #27 Kent!!!!

For Kent and Mom Nixon's birthday, I made them a Two Peas in a Pod birthday cake, because they really are two peas in a pod!

I had to make the cake in the basement so they wouldn't see me making their surprises...muy muy sneaky!

They really are two peas in a pod!

Happy Birthday after a fun day in Boston!

Me and Kent outside of Mike's Pastries. We got so many yummy desserts in there! We went to the Prudential building and did the Skywalk tour, went to Mike's Pastries, and to a wonderful dinner with Mom and Dad Nixon and Reed. What a great time we had!

Kent opening his birthday presents. I drew a picture of us for him and he loved that.

I'm "In It To End It"

2010-03-15T10:52:00.001-07:00

My Nanny and Gucky

That's right. Kent and I have decided to take part in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer on May 15-16 in Boston. We will be walking 39 miles and are trying to raise $3600 between the two of us. We are "Team Nanny", in honor of my wonderful grandma Nanny who has been fighting breast cancer since last July. Please show your support to us by donating at my webpage:

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/Boston?px=5392984&pg=personal&fr_id=1920&et=eaaZjfWwb2WckWag8zUpXA..&s_tafId=499080

I will keep you all up to date on how things are coming along for us on this exciting event.

In other news, KENT AND I ARE MOVING TO UTAH!!! That's right, Utah. Provo or Orem actually. We are holding off on grad school while Kent goes into business with his friend Craig of "Craig's Cuts." We are so excited about the opportunity and the move. We'll be heading out there near the end of June! Here's a link to an article about Craig and his business:

http://www.heraldextra.com/business/local/article_1756ab09-b2b9-5f70-9e41-14a2a3a28fa0.html

Lastly, but oh, SO not leastly, Kent and I decided to try Intrauterine Insemination. I know that's a personal thing, but it's been 31 months of trying for us now, and I am so far passed being "personal" or keeping things "hush-hushed." So, we did it. Yesterday. It was weird, I'll be honest. And it hurt a lot more than I thought it would.

I wanted to mention we did this IUI also because I know the word is already spreading that we've done this, and I want to make sure the record is clear that it was indeed IUI, and NOT in-vitro! There IS a difference. So no petri dishes. ;) IUI is injecting a sperm sample into the uterus via the cervix. There is no egg retrieval. We used Clomid, I had ultrasounds and bloodwork to monitor everything, and there you have it. But let me get on to the weird part...

The "Collection Room." Wow. So first off, I actually had to request that I accompany Kent into "His Part" of the show. Apparently the guy usually does his part alone...? Anyway, so the nurse takes us into our lovely little room, where there are two leather chairs, a sink, a table, and a flat screen TV. And above the TV, yes, a large picture of a very naked woman!!! It was huge!! I couldn't help but chuckle at that one. But then, I read the sign by the TV. Something to the effect of: Dear Gentlemen, over the course of the past few months, six of our DVDs have gone missing from our collection. These DVDs are meant to be for the benefit of all of our male patrons and will not be replaced. Please be courteous to our other gentlemen users and enjoy this DVD in the room only. Do not remove it from the collection room. Thank you.

Well holy buckets. I guess I just never really sat down and thought about it before, but Kent and I were in a pornoroom!!! Needless to say, we were both very uncomfortable and really didn't want to touch anything in that room. I feel bad for the nurses that have to have that job...

Anyway, the rest of the procedure was just long with lots of waiting, wasn't all that interesting though. It just hurt more than I thought it would. I'm not feeling all too well today either, but such is life I guess. We go in for the pregnancy test on March 29!!! Until then I'm just going to be going crazy, that's all.

So that's our update. Sorry if it was too much information for any of you; I just figure hey, everyone's curious, so why beat around the bush?

But again, PLEASE visit my webpage and make a donation for our Walk for Breast Cancer! And tell your friends to do the same! Let's make a difference together! Love you all!

My Wife is AMAZING!!!

2010-02-25T22:35:00.000-08:00

Since this is, in fact, "Kent and Kayla's Wonderful Life" blog, I felt it appropriate to post something of my own, mostly to surprise Kayla with not only compliments, but also with the comfort that her husband can learn how to blog for himself. haha :) I hope I haven't messed up already...

Look at that smile! --->

Anyway, my title sums it all up, but I want to elaborate just a bit more for her. For those of you who detest PDA, you may want to avert your eyes. :)Kayla struggles everyday with stomach pain, muscle pain, headaches, a pain-in-the-neck husband... you get the drift - She puts up with a ton! Yet she seems to accomplish multiples more than I do on my best day! She is "learning to cook" as she calls it, but turns out the most amazing meals (healthy AND balanced). She magnifies her church responsibilities better than anyone I know and is truly dedicated to serving others. She helps me to stay spiritually nourished through prayer, scripture reading, family night, and temple attendance. She is preparing to be and will be a phenomenal mother to our children. I am so excited to be married to her and to share in many new experiences with her. She keeps me on my toes and brightens my life everyday! She's witty and goofy, beautiful and smart, talented and gifted in so many ways. I would love to go on, but I know she'd want me to get some sleep. She's always looking out for me. To those who read this, thank you for indulging me while I tried to honor my dear wife. I love you Sweetheart.

I click on "Publish Post" now, right? :)

Livin' On Love and Lovin' Every Minute of It!!!

2010-02-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun video of my nieces trying to pop balloons with me!!!

Well, I've been back home in Boston for almost a month now and have definitely been busy. I got home the night before my birthday, and Kent took me to Olive Garden to celebrate. Yum yum it was fun! He also had made a wonderfully crafty welcome home sign for me, and I had brought him home some chocolates and teddy bears!

I then got to teach Relief Society the next day at Church on my birthday. That was also a special day as our wonderful family all held a special fast with Kent and me for us to be able to start our family. It was a wonderful day and a spiritual experience to say the least. For my birthday, Kent was amazing and arranged with my family to have my parents, Lyska and Tyson to come and visit us out here in Boston for Spring Break!!!! I am so ecstatic and was so surprised and am so happy!!! Yay, we are going to have so much fun!!

And our wonderful friends the Christen's came over to celebrate and brought me a bunch of balloons, a party hat, and a Cold Stone cookie dough ice cream cake!!!! They are so amazing!! They also took us to dinner at Cheesecake Factory!!! We have such amazing friends all over this country.

So, we LOVE helium! hehe...

On Monday February 8th, Kent and I drove up to Vermont. We went to Sharon, where Joseph Smith was born, and saw the visitor's center there and had a picnic lunch in our car. It was great.

We then drove to our cute Best Western for a great night. We had a fireplace in our room, and there was an indoor pool and jacuzzi, exercise room, and game room, complete with ping pong and air hockey!

Needless to say, we kept busy having so much fun! Monday night we were putting our feet in the jacuzzi while about 7 ladies had a WATER AEROBICS CLASS!! in the pool, when we looked outside and realized there were swings just outside in the snow!!! So we put on our sweatshirts and FLIP FLOPS, and ran on out there and swung on the swings for like 5 minutes! We then ran to the kid playground down the way, where my feet promptly began to freeze off, so we ran to return to the jacuzzi, where we were met by a stunning applause by our water aerobics audience. So much fun.

On Tuesday after our great stay in the hotel, a wonderful breakfast and several VERY competitive games of air hockey (I would rather not discuss the outcome of these games, as they were all extremely close, ending not in my favor despite the fact that they should have!!!), we headed to the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory for a fun-filled tour and free samples!

We especially loved the ice cream graveyard!!

We also drove up to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory.

We missed the tours, but saw enough in the gift shop. We also got to see some beautiful Vermont sights along the way. We had a great trip! It was so nice to be back with my husband again after a month of being apart!

For Valentine's Day, Kent wrote me a song, which was, of course, amazing. I borrowed a sweet idea from Krista and TJ Emrich and did a "Mini Date." I had a mini candybar path leading up to our bedroom for Kent, wear we had candles, and a cupcake tray holding our several course meal inside each cup! We had baby carrots and Ranch, tater tots, mini pizza rolls, and mini sausages.

We had chilled mini A&W Rootbeer cans to drink, and the best part, our mini marshmallows we roasted over mini tealight candles to make s'mores with teddy grahams and chocolate chips!!!

AND, because I got lucky and found them at the grocery store, we had mini "dixie cup" style cups of Ben & Jerry's ice cream!! I kid you not, the serving size was actually LESS THAN HALF A CUP!!!! SOOO fun!!! We topped the meal off with a mini movie on our laptop...we watched Dan in Real Life, because I saw it in Texas and loved it. So we have had some fun.

In other news, KENT GOT ACCEPTED TO WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY AND UNIVERSITY OF UTAH!!!! So, for now, Salem, OR or Salt Lake City, UT. We are still waiting to hear back from Texas A&M though, so no decisions for us yet. But whew, it feels oh so good to have options, and I am so prouod of Kent! AND the GMAT officially no longer matters for Kent!! Woot woot!!!

Kent and I also got to go to our friends' the Abernethy's to see their awesome son Dan open his mission call to Brazil! We love that family and know Dan will be a great missionary!

Our friends Nick and Heather Christen's son Mason is Kent's new best friend. He has on many occasions come to play guitar, and well, rock out. We love it!

Well, it's raining like crazy here right now. I know, RAINING!! That is "very uncharaceteristic for New England weather at this time of year," according to EVERYONE here. However, it is indeed still raining and so far there hasn't been much weather that has been characteristic of New England seasons. It snowed, but then it rained and now it's still raining and I love it. And that's your New England weather report that I know you didn't ask for, folks!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

2010-02-04T09:59:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Natalie!

For Natalie's birthday, the girls and I made her a Candyland cake! They unwrapped ALL the candy for me! Great little helpers!

I took Annalise and Megan to Ally's school and we had lunch together. I spoiled them with McDonald's and Cake! Healthy, eh?

I go home on Saturday, the 6th, the day before my birthday! I'm sad to leave my nieces, but can't wait to see Kent!

On a side note, I took my CMA Exam last month and PASSED! I scored 717 out of 800 and only needed 410 to pass. I scored in the 92nd percentile in Clinical and Administrative, and 96th in General. Overall, my score was in the 96th percentile! Yay!!!

Duck, Duck...GOOSE!!!

2010-01-31T17:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm here in Texas still with my nieces and I had a really funny experience yesterday. The girls were a little rambunctious, so I decided to take them to the park where they could ride bikes, play on the playground, and feed the ducks at the pond! I've taken them there a couple of times and it's a lot of fun for all of us.

My nieces are actually quite petrified of animals in general, and I've been working hard to teach them to be brave, especially when feeding the "cute little ducks." They've actually made great improvements, and yesterday we were all sitting on a picnic table, throwing bread to about 15 ducks. Among these nice ducks, there was this big old mean white goose. It's actually just bigger than my 3-year-old niece, Megan. As we were feeding them, we kept noticing this goose bullying the ducks, and literally biting them and hanging on while the ducks tried getting away for about ten feet! To make a long story somewhat shorter, I decided this goose had had enough to eat, so I went over and tried to chase it away. I ran at it, stomped my feet, clapped, all to no avail. That goose just looked at me like I was some dumb idiot not worth his time.

Well, that did not go over too well with me. So I decided to lightly "kick" this goose in the beak, to show it who was boss I guess. Well that's when the fun started. That goose looked at me and started hissing and going crazy! It started to lower its head, just like it was going to attack me like one of the ducks.

I looked at my nieces and knew if they saw Aunt Kayla attacked by a goose THIS close, that'd be the end of their brave days as we know it. So I grabbed by backpack (which fortunately had some books in it and was quite heavy), and tried to jog away from the goose. Well, it ran right after me and I decided it would make more sense for me to calmly back up away from the goose. So I started to walk slowly, the goose eyeing me down and following my every footstep.

After about 20 feet of walking backwards, I decided this was getting ridiculous. That goose was attempting to chase me right out of the park! So I stopped. The goose looked at me for a second, then made its attack for my shins. I wasn't about to get pecked in the shin, so I took my backpack and swung it at the goose. He dodged my retalliation, and went at me again. I swung back.

Now this entire time I was laughing like crazy, because this is TOTALLY a predicament my Dad would have gotten himself into! Inside, I was seriously ready to give this goose one good whack and kill it. That goose is mean and dumb and doesn't deserve to "rule" that pond. But there was a group of guys fishing--witnesses--and I didn't really want to kill a goose in front of my nieces.

So, on and on we went, the goose constantly attacking my shins, and me defending my shins and swinging back in response!

After about 30 more feet of this, I was really laughing at the fact that I'd let a goose "chase" me back this far. Of course, I also had the intentions of getting this suicidal goose as far away from my nieces as possible! So again, I stopped. This time I knew it was the end, one way or another.

One last time, I tried to scare that dumb goose away. He looked at me menacingly, hissing all the while, and then, with not much warning, spread its big old wings and flew up about 5 feet--eye level with me--and went for the kill, STRAIGHT FOR MY FACE!!! Luckily I was ready with my heavy backpack. I swung it in front of my face just in time, and threw it as hard as I could at that goose. It made contact, and the goose went down with my backpack, actually, on TOP of my backpack! That goose then proceded to go absolutely crazy on top of my backpack! It was flapping and hissing and kicking and biting at my backpack like it was a ravenous carnivore! I let it have its fit, staying several feet away. After about a minute, I think it finally thought it had won that battle. Haughtily, it dismounted its kill, pridefully looked around (I was not moving an inch at this point), and began to stalk off back towards the pond. I let it get about 20 feet away before I retrieved my poor, defeated backpack. Then, I had to wait for that stupid bird to get past my nieces, who, fortunately had been far enough away at the actual time of attack to be too frightened. I had my nieces sneak off the back of that picnic table and make a run for it as soon as I could.

So there you have it. My day with my nieces at the park. Sometimes you win, sometimes your backback looses. I guess the moral of this story is: don't kick a goose. I should have killed that bird when I had a chance. I look forward to our next encounter. Let it be known that I will be ready!

I'm Here With My Nieces, But I Miss Kent to Pieces

2010-01-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

I am here in Hutto, TX helping my sister-in-law, Natalie while she is on bedrest with her fourth pregnancy. Her's and Josh's adorable girls, my nieces, Ally (6), Annalise (5), and Megan (3 1/2) have been so much fun, and so much work. Natalie is almost 35 weeks along with baby Jake, their first little boy!

I have been here since January 5th, and will be here, as of now, until February 6th--the day before my birthday! I just have to say that I miss my Kent! He has been so wonderful while I've been gone. He sent me a beautiful bouquet of roses the other day, and also a Dove chocolate wrapper with a sweet message inside. I married such a romantic and am so happy I did!

Ally lost her two front teeth, two nights in a row when I first got here! Now thee ith thooo cute with her lithp! "Thweet thithter Thally thing me a thweet thong of joy."

Cutie Petuties...Kent and I are so excited to have our own kids! For now though, at least we have 15 (as soon as Jake arrives) of the cutest kids around for nieces and nephews that we can play with and spoil a little!

So for now, I love you, Kent. I can't wait to see you. A month is a ridiculously too long amount of time to be apart. You're doing a great job working hard on everything back home though. I am so proud of you! Hugs and kisses from me and our nieces!

This is Christmas, Happy Christmas...

2009-12-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

Let it Snow!

I don't have snow boots, so we improvised with garbage bags on my feet!
My feet stayed dry...you know you're a redneck when...

Once I was a snowman, snowman, snowman

The snow wouldn't pack, so Kent turned me into a Snowman!!!

Yes, That is ME under that snowman!

Once I was a snowman, cold, cold, cold!

I had to hold my breath when Kent covered my face with snow, AND I had to hold the carrot in my mouth! The things we do for love...

Snow angels

Kent's parents' home in the snow

Kent took me and our friend Mikell to the Boston Ballet Nutcracker for Christmas!

Eating Ice Cream sundaes at Hebert's Candy Mansion

We got to create our own sweet madness!

Sweet Tooth...?

Sweet Tooth!!!

Red Sox "gingerbread" house we made with some kids from Church!

Merry Christmas! It's been such a great couple of months since my last post. The title of this post actually comes from part of a new song that Kent just wrote. As most of you can probably imagine, it is just beautiful! He is going to be copywriting his songs officially here in the next couple of weeks, and then we will start working on getting his songs heard out there!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving--nice and quiet, just Kent, me, Reed, and their parents. We had our first "big" snow storm last weekend--we got just under a foot of snow! Instead of being the typical New England, wet, heavy snow though, it was a light, powder, Utah-ish snow. Church got cancelled, Kent and I shoveled the driveway and Reed's ramp, then we played in the snow.

We are spending Christmas out here in Boston--it's my first Christmas away from my family. We miss them, but are grateful for the chance to be here with Reed and Kent's parents.

We found out that Kent didn't get into UW for grad school. He's on the waiting list for TX A&M, and that's all we know still. We're praying for the right thing to happen, and are excited to know when, where, and what that will be!

May the Lord bless each of you during this Christmas season. Merry Christmas!

...Leaves Are Falling...

2009-10-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Salem skeleton

Ferris Wheel in Salem--it was on the water and overlooked everything; it was so cool!

At the Salem Carnival...what do you even DO with a Spiderman that big?!?!

Part of one of the Salem museum tours...the dancing "possessed" girls of Salem

Is there a resemblance?

How about now?

The Bar Harbor Inn restaurant in the Reading Room...best dinner I've EVER had!! They had live piano and everything!

On the Pier at Bar Harbor

The outside of Bar Harbor Inn

Weee!!!

See the cruise ship in the distance...

On top of Cadillac Mountain at Acadia National Park

Pretty Fall colors

Part of Thunder Hole in Acadia

Pretty view of the Atlantic

Sand Beach at Acadia

Part of the hike of Precipice Point at Acadia...it was a 1,000 foot rise, and just under a mile hike. They had make-shift "ladders" and "railings" welded into parts of the rocks so that you didn't need climbing gear. It was pretty tough and DANG fun with a beautiful view!

See how pretty? I had slippery pants on and literally almost slid off the mountain here while trying to take this picture!

I'm livin' on the edge!!!

Kent's on top of the world!!! Or Pride Rock!!! Or, well, yeah.

Again, I'm livin' on the edge! See how little foot room I have?

The fall colors were just breathtaking!

Love this picture! That was a huge rock wall behind Kent.

Part of the 27 mile loop drive in Acadia National Park.

These rocks were so fun! You could climb inside of them!

Leaves are falling all around...

So handsome!

It was a bit chilly up there.

The Breakers Mansion in Newport, RI. It's the "summer home" of the Vanderbilt's.

Beautiful, huge, wow.

Well, in a nutshell, that is some of what we've been up to. Fall is beautiful out here in New England. We had a great time in Maine last week, and the mansions we did a few weeks ago. Until next time...

...OctSnowBrrrr...

2009-10-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Happy October! So we got home from Church on Sunday, the 18th, and I looked out the window and what did I see...?

3-inch snowflakes staring back at me!!See them falling all around? I especially love the fall leaves in the background of this Noreaster!

Catching them on your tongue was like taking a drink!

Yes, those are actual snowflakes that landed in Kent's hair...they were huge!!!

Look closely, he caught one on his tongue!

I'm telling you, they were HUGE!!! That's ONE snowflake in my hair!

And today, it's sunny skies in the 60s. Gotta love it!

Where, oh where have I been?

2009-10-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

The Nauman Family Kent and Kayla

Fourth of July in Boston

Fourth of July in Boston

Cape Cod May '09

Baseball Roadtrip August '09

Amy visiting July '09

Kent Auditioned for American Idol...

"When I grow up, I wanna be famous, wanna be as star..."

Watch the show and you'll understand what I mean.

Kent and Kayla 2 year Anniversary

We went to NY and saw Little Mermaid on Broadway!

Well, it's only been six months since I posted anything new, not too shabby, eh? Summer out here in Boston was wet, not too wild, but overall quite fun. One of my best friends from high school, Amy, came to visit us from WA for a week in July. We showed her the ropes of the East Coast and had a blast with her here! More of you should take us up on the offer and COME VISIT US!!!

I spent the summer working for Reed, and also working as a Medical Assistant at the doctor's office in Concord. Kent has been working hard to improve his GMAT score. He's taking it one last time (lucky number four, we hope) a week from today! He also just today submitted his first of many grad school applications; this one was to University of Washington!! It would be so great to see some West Coast in our future!

I went home to Elma at the end of August to visit my family for a month. I drove from Boston to Utah with my friend Carley (fun times--we got to stop and see our friend Tasha and her hubby Jeff too!!), visited family and friends in Utah for a week, then flew home from there. My brother Ki returned from his mission to Tempe, AZ, and we had a blast playing and having fun together as a family. Kent came out for a week in the middle of my trip, so that made the whole thing bearable.

For the past 3+ months now, I've been dealing with some sevre stomach issues though. I have been going in for test after test, including but not limited to stool samples, blood work, colonoscopy with biopsies, and upper GI series with small bowel follow through. So far, all they can say is that I appear healthy. But we all know I'm not, and are still trying to figure it all out. I go in tomorrow for a three hour Krystalose test, and we'll see from there. So far, my best guess is severe irritable bowel syndrome, but if that's what it is, it's sure putting a cramp on my lifestyle! Most days lately I can't even get out of bed, and eating has gone from a favorite pasttime hobby to a real chore. We'll spare you all the details from there, but if anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears! They thought it was Crohn's or Celiac, but it's not (as of now anyway).

Anyway, that's that for us for now. We sold our house and it has been such a blessing! We sure miss our Idaho Falls friends and neighbors; it will be hard to ever find another group of such amazing people all squeezed into one amazing little neighborhood. We love you IF!!!!

The next big thing will be figuring out where we go from here....and when. We should be getting grad school responses by December or January. Our top 5 options are BYU, University of WA, U of Utah, Texas A&M, and Johns Hopkins. We'll keep you posted when we find out what's next!

Beginnings and Endings and Beginnings Again

2009-04-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well here we are in Boston...it's actually a suburb called Northboro, but only a select few would know that, so alas, Boston it is.

Things are going great for us. I finally finished my 200 hour, 7 week internship at Concord Internal Medicine as a Medical Assistant! It is a 40 minute commute, but it's in the town where Walden Pond is located, and Walden by Thoreau happens to be a favorite of mine, so come summetime, I will be there. I will be working at that office throughout the summer and on as a fill-in for the RNs and front desk people whenever they take a vacation or something. The nurses and doctors and staff I work with there are the greatest! They've taught me so much...both in my field and about life (most of the things I've learned about life are probably better left unspoken though). Anyway, I look forward to continuing working for them, but for pay instead of for free! yay!!

I also just started working for my brother-in-law, Reed. Kent works as his fulltime, live-in personal care attendant, and I just started working mornings for him, thus giving my sweet mother-in-law a break, as she was doing the morning work. It's been great so far; Reed is the most patient person I've ever met, and I'm grateful for that...hopefully I don't drive him too crazy...between Kent and me, he has to put up with quite a bit. ;) We love you Reed!

Well, our house in Idaho Falls DID sell, but then, just five days before closing, our buyers' financing fell through! So, now it's NOT sold, and it's back on the lovely market. Let's all just pray it sells somewhat soon...we'd love to not have the cross-country mortgage payments. Until then, hakuna matata, or something like that.

We have had callings in our new/old ward (we live with Kent's parents, so it's his old family ward he grew up in) since a couple weeks after getting here. Kent is the employment and resources specialist, and I WAS the Relief Society instructor...until the Sunday before Conference. I was then released and called to serve as the First Counselor in the Primary Presidency!!! Apparently the Lord wants me with all the kids He can! Unlike the Primary in Idaho Falls, this Primary only has 50 kids TOTAL, including nursery. So the load will not be near so heavy as it was at times in the I.F. Primary Presidency (I miss you Kjerstin, Michele, and Allison!!!). Anyway, I'm looking forward to my new challenge, but will definately miss my teaching calling in the Relief Society.

I also have been having doctor's appointments galore. If you know me, you probably know about my crazy daily, endless headaches, migraines, and other strange bodily ailments. I've learned to live with them, but still trying to figure out what's wrong with me. My doctor referred me to a neurologist, who had me get an MRI. I also had bloodwork, Xrays, and a few other tests. Fortunately, and unfortunately, everything came back normal. Now the question remains, if I'm normal, why am I so abnormal? haha, so I don't have a brain tumor but I do still have the pain. I'll settle for that if it means no brain surgery.

Since my last post, Kent (and just about everyone else on his side of the family) had a birthday! He's now 26! He will be taking the GMAT for MBA school in a week and a half, so wish him luck! He's trying hard to study, and he's working so hard with everything he does right now! He's amazing!

Well, for now, I think that's about it. We got to go to a Boston Bruins game a few weeks ago, my first hockey game experience. It was a blast and I found a new favorite sport to watch! March Madness came and went, and I ALMOST had a chance at the Nixon Family plaque...dang UConn. But I beat Kent, so I'm satisfied with that much. Gotta love friendly competition.

I Think I'll Go To Boston...Part II of How We Avoided January

2009-02-10T14:36:00.002-08:00

Well, I found an internship today here in Boston. It's actually in Concord, the location of my favorite Walden Pond (yes, Thoreau is a favorite of mine). I will be working for an Internist for the next six weeks. Sadly I cannot get paid (some school rule or something), but I am excited for everything I will be learning.

Anyway, back to how we got out here to good ol' Northboro (or to the Westerners, Boston, since no one that's not from here would have ever heard of Northboro).

After we got home from El Salvador, we had about three days of living at our empty home. Thanks to wonderful and loving neighbors, we didn't have to fast the entire time we were there. Anyway, we basically packed everything up, said our goodbyes (*tears), and headed South. Yes South. We were moving to Boston, but for the first several hundred miles, we only drove South. And West.

Our first stop was to say goodbye to Oma and Opa. We only got to spend a couple of hours with them, but are grateful for the times we got to spend with them over the past couple of years. We miss them already! After Oma and Opa's, we went down to Kent's Grandmother and Grandad's for lunch and some oh-so-intense games. We then spent the rest of the day and the night with Raelene and Mark and their six amazing kids! We miss them too! The next morning we said our goodbyes to BYU and a few of our friends down there at our old stompin' grounds...ah the good ol' days.

From P-Town, we drove down through Kent's mission. We got to see/ hike Bryce Canyon and Zion's Nat'l Park...fun, amazing, and BEAUTIFUL!!! We got to visit the Wilcox family, one of Kent's close friends from his mission. They were amazing and had us for dinner and stocked us up with some awesome treats (Ephra and Jaysha, we SOOO need that recipe by the way!). After a couple days in southern Utah, we went on over to Las Vegas, because, hey, why not right? I need to mention that Raelene is Incredible (in sooooo many ways) She and Mark hooked us up big time and let us use their timeshares for discounted rates all the way across the country. We got to stay in these amazing, gorgeous hotels for dirt cheap! Thanks Raelene!!! We stayed in Vegas for a couple nights, and did the whole strip thing...good times. I showed Kent mine, Joey's, and Carley's infamous Pirate ship (good times Skrosk!) We went to the Stratosphere Tower, and, somehow survived!!! We went on these three rides, Big Shot, Insanity, and ExScream. Big Shot shoots you straight up the needle on top of the tower, then you free fall back down. Insanity is this crazy arm thing that picks you up, puts you out over the edge of the Stratosphere, and then spins you around and around until you are facing the ground, 1100 feet in the air! And ExScream....they called it a Teeter Totter. If it's a Teeter Totter, it's the Teeter Totter of Death! It's this 30 foor long roller coaster track, and Kent and I got to sit in the FRONT car. Once you're all strapped in with this wimpy lap bar, and you're wondering what could possibly be so scary about this short track of roller coaster, the whole track drops down, and you don't only coast, but you are FORCED forward, toward the edge of the track! They don't have any kind of restraining rails or anything at the edge of the track! In fact, once we reached the edge of the track, the front car actually hangs off of the track! So we were there, freaking out of course, facing the floor of Vegas 1100 feet below us, and then the track started to raise up and we coasted back to the beginning. Then, just when we were getting our breath back, Boom, We were zipped back down at incredible rates, towards our impending doom. After the second one, we knew what to expect, when all of a sudden the whole track dropped about ten feet! We thought it broke and we were going to fall to our deaths! What a crazy night that was! To top it off, we met Marie Osmond up there with her kids! We had fun chatting for a few minutes.
From Vegas, we drove the next morning over to the Hoover Dam. Talk about breathtaking. We did a tour of the dam and saw the huge bridge they are building across the thing. It was amazing! After that we headed to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. Yes, there IS a West Rim. It was only about 50 miles out of our way, so we THOUGHT, 'hey, no biggie.' Little did we know that 20 of those 50 miles were gravel, dirt, and altogether horrible conditions!!! We thought our poor weighed down car was going to die! Once we made it over those treachorous roads, we found out that the West Rim is NOT considered a National Park; it is owned by an Indian Reservation. Well we came that whole way and wanted to see the Grand Canyon, so they charged us up the nose and we saw the Grand Canyon. We got to go on the Sky Bridge, but couldn't bring our cameras! It was cool, but so not worth the drive or the money for future reference! Anyway, I stole a pic or two with my phone while on the sky bridge anyway.

We spent that night down in Mesa with my cousin Quinten and Kate and their three kids. We only wish we could have stayed longer! The next day, we made the drive to Maricopa, and took Elder Nauman and his companion to Breakfast! (it was more like lunch really) We found out there weren't really any breakfast places there, so we went to Ki's favorite burrito shop in town and had burritos for breakfast. It was so fun seeing Ki down there! He's doing great and working hard! After 'breakfast' we drove and drove and drove (there's not a lot other than Joshua tree forests between Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. We did go through Benson, the town where Opa grew up...we got ice cream there! We also stopped off the freeway in the literal middle of nowhere to see The THING!!! I cannot tell you much more than that it is there, and we saw it.

Our next stop on this adventure was Carlsbad Caverns...one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen! We hiked for hours and had so much fun there!

Next, we made our way to Natalie and Josh's house for a fun-filled weekend with them and their girls. We stayed busy and had a great time with them and are excited to go back!

After Natalie's, we went to New Orleans for a night. It's a pretty scary place to get lost at night, but we had a blast there! We went to this amazing Cheesecake Bistro for an incredible dinner/ dessert!!!

After New Orleans...FLORIDA!!!! Oh my amazing! We had perfect weather and got to go to DisneyWorld! Kent told them it was my birthday, so I got to wear a pin and EVERYONE there wished me a happy birthday. We were able to go to Magic Kingdom AND Epcot in a day! Only one line was a 15 minute wait; everything else was 5 minutes or less!! It was literally a dream come true day! That night, Kent took me to La Neuba-- a Cirque du Soleil performance. Words could never do that show justice! It was one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen, and an amazing birthday present! Our resort there was breathtaking as well!

After feeding seagulls at Daytona Beach, we drove up to Myrtle Beach. What a beautiful, fun place! We got to go to a local breakfast restaurant where Kent and I had our first grits experience! Mmmm They were delicious! We also went to Alligator Adventure--an exhibit of over 1500 gators and crocs, and tons of other reptiles and awesome animals! We even saw albino alligators, and got to hold a constrictor and a baby gator!

From Myrtle Beach we went to Williamsburg, SC. Our resort was a fun colonial style place that was about the same square footage as our home in Idaho! We got our oil changed there, since we'd gone pretty far since Idaho. After that we drove through Washington, D.C. We had a great time seeing the sights there. From there we drove to Aunt Katrina and Uncle Tamar's house in PA. We had a fun visit with them and went to Church with them on Sunday. We left after Sacrament Meeting, and made the home stretch drive up to Northboro, arriving literally three minutes before kick-off for the Super Bowl! Talk about timing!

So, after 16 days on the road, we made it safe and sound at our new home.

Total mileage: 5,300 miles!!!! Not having to live out of a suitcase anymore, priceless.

Let the next chapter of our lives--BEGIN!

How We Managed To Completely Skip the Month of January

2009-02-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

Well it's been quite awhile since I last wrote, but for a good reason. After Christmas in Washington with my family, we headed home for a few short days to finish packing up our home. We left for El Salvador on the 1st of January. What a trip! Before we actually left the country we got to get rerouted, after many hours in the airport, to Seattle of all places so Kent could renew his passport. It didn't expire until April, but Apparently El Salvador has a rule that your passport must be good for six months upon arrival. Nowhere in our travel itinerary was that mentioned (Orbitz), so we had a hard time getting started, but had fun hanging out in Seattle for a day. Delta rescheduled everything for us free of charge, and we sure learned a lot!

Once we got to El Salvador, we got to see where Kent lived when he worked for HELP International, and we even got to return to the ward he attended while there. On our way to Church, we took a wrong bus somewhere and ended up in El Parque Libertad, one of the most dangerous parts of El Salvador! We saw a cool cathedral while there, but it was a little scary, so we didn't stay long. We found our way to Church and got to see several people Kent knew when he lived there. We also met this Awesome couple, Erin and Jay, that are from the US and are living down there right now. Jay actually worked for HELP a few years before Kent, and now he works for the Embassy down there. Anyway, they were so kind and helpful to us down there, they took us to there beautiful home for Sunday dinner, and then back to our hotel.

Monday morning around 5am we took a bus to Guatemala. We went to Antigua, this beautiful old town that used to be Guatemala's capital. While there we decided to splurge and we stayed a night in a top 500 and the #1 hotel in Central America and Mexico, El Santo Domingo. It's an old monestary that is just incredible! We had dinner there and felt like royalty all night. Early the next morning we took a bus to el Volcan Pacaya, a very active volcano. We climbed to the top of the volcano and actually got to see the lava and poke sticks in it! It was so hot up there, and we ended up walking on 7 day old lava crust that actually had flowing lava beneath it. Not the smartest thing we could have done, but hey, it was HOT!!! From Pacaya we took a bus to Lake Atitlan, a beautiful crater lake nested between several immense volcanoes. Now at this point I should mention the road systems in Central America--it's insanity on wheels down there! The 'chicken buses' and microbuses we took down there are essentially retired American school buses that have been suped up and gutted out to make room for more seats. The roads down there are ridiculous! Our trip to Atitlan was like a massive roller coaster ride with now brakes! Ahhh! But we made it and had so much fun touring the pueblos around the lake.

After Atitlan we took an eight hour, overnight bus to the Mayan ruins of Tikal. The seats in the bus were like glorified first class seats in an airplane. It was quite the experience to say the least. We spent several hours hiking through the forests of Tikal and saw some amazing things. We got to climb the temple ruins and saw some spider monkeys, and, my favorite howler monkeys fighting! They were right above our heads yelling at each other and it was great! We went to Flores, this fun little island town for dinner. We also paid a lady a couple bucks to use her ghetto shower that was really a pipe sticking out of a wall that shot cold water at you. But after two consecutive overnight buses, even that felt refreshing and clean! There was a carnival going on there, which consisted of old American fair rides that were no longer considered safe and were sent to El Salvador to 'die.' We went on this rickety old ferris wheel that was going so fast you lost your stomach every time around! Fortunately, we survived--somehow.

After that we took another overnight bus back down to El Salvador, where we met up with Jay and Erin and there adorable daughters again. They took us up to Juayua, an awesome festival town where there were rows and rows of food and fun things for sale. We had lunch there, and then the two of us hiked down to these beautiful waterfalls. We swam around there for a bit and just enjoyed our time, and went back up to town. While up there, we somehow managed to run into a family Kent taught English to with HELP! They were so awesome and offered to take us back to San Salvador so we wouldn't have to take a bus! Before taking us to Jay and Erin's, they took us to this great mountain where we hiked up and had this amazing view of the capital, the ocean, surrounding volcanoes, and the sunset! It was amazing! Then they took us to dinner, yummylicious papusas! We had an amazing time! The next morning, Jay took us to a beach and fish market where we got to see (and smell) how many people make a living down there. We then flew home and got back into the states on January 11th. What an amazing trip we had! We have so many fun memories, pictures, and even plans of what we want to do next time we go down! Thus, the first half of January had passed without us.

The rest of our January Adventures is soon to come...

Merry Christmas from Elma, WA

2008-12-24T20:13:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are in Elma for the Holidays. Kent and I, with the help of our amazing friends and neighbors Heidi and Terek (and baby Trapper) packed up our truck on Saturday night. We finished around 1am and were planning on leaving sometime Sunday to drive home for Christmas. However, thanks to my spontaneous crazy nature, I suggested to Kent that instead of going to sleep for a few short hours, we should just leave right then. So, on Sunday morning at 1:45 am, we left Idaho Falls and drove to WA, having not slept since 8:30 am Saturday. To top it off, we drove straight into that great Arctic Chill storm everyone has been hearing about in the Northwest. It snowed HARD the WHOLE drive, closing I-84 and forcing us to take another route through White Pass to get home. We averaged a blazing 42 mph the WHOLE trip, making our normally 12-13 hour drive a whopping 21 hours of snow, ice, and memories!!!! We arrived sometime around 11pm Sunday night, having been awake for 40 hours, and driving for 21 of those hours. Yuck. Fortunately, we are planning on flying back to IF on Sunday--let's hope the flights are on time!
We've had fun here in Elma so far! We spent all day yesterday building Elma's first 8-foot igloo! It's big enough to fit my family inside, and we can all stand up straight in it! We have also enjoyed sledding down the hill to our river, and jumping off the edge of the same hill; something we have appropriately named 'cliff jumping.' Last night we were also able to make the icy drive to Chehalis to celebrate our cousin Joey's 22nd birthday! Happy Birthday primo!!! So, here we are on Christmas Eve, loving our families and friends, and looking forward to the next few weeks. We are going to miss our home in Idaho Falls more than I can describe here, but we are grateful for the good times we've had there. After Washington, we have El Salvador, and then our 21 state Road Trip of a lifetime out to Boston! We are blessed! Merry Christmas all!

Moving Sale!!!

2008-12-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

BUY OUR HOME!!! BUY OUR HOME!!!

Well thanks to many interested buyers, all we have left is our wonderful bed. Well, that and our house. They're both still there so let us know if you'd like one or the other or both! Let me know if you are interested: nixon.kayla@gmail.com,

Thanks!

King Size Bed, Box Spring, and Frame: $750

BUY OUR HOME!!!

I'm back!

2008-12-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

Well, after quite a long break since I originally created this blog, I am, at last, back again. Life has been a whirlwind these past several weeks. Kent and I have lived in our wonderful home for a year this month, and we have loved every minute of it. We have definately made some incredible friends up here and created some wonderful memories. We went to Yellowstone in November on a whim. We just kind of woke up one Saturday and thought, 'hey, let's go to Yellowstone.' We did the Lower Loop and Jackson in an afternoon, ending with an Old Faithful viewing at 9:00 at night! We enjoyed hiking through the beauty up there and are so glad we had that opportunity!

December has dealt us an interesting hand. We've been looking for jobs in the area, but unsuccessfully so far. So as of now, our house if For Sale (so sad!) and may be moving to Boston in a few weeks!

So, since we're moving after Christmas, I decided to graduate this semester! So my parents and Opa came up this past weekend, and I GRADUATED! It's funny how I transferred up here after Kent graduated, did 2.5 semesters at BYU-I, and now I have a BS degree from here! Haha, anyway I have a 4.0 up here, and I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL! (unless I go crazy and decide to go back for something...we'll see) Kent was Awesome and wrote a little song (to the song from Top Gun) and made a banner that he hung at Applebee's. We all went to dinner there and it was hanging up, and he broke out into song right there in front of everyone! It was awesome! He also planned a little graduation party in this cool loft thing at Hogi Yogi, where he, my parents, sister, and Opa had food and played Wii for a couple hours! It was hilarious watching my parents work the Wiimote...haha.

Well, now that I am done with school, I get to clean and pack and pack and clean. We are driving both of our cars to WA this weekend for Christmas, and we will leave my truck and a load of our stuff there for safe storing until we come back again someday. And on January 1st, we are headed to El Salvador for TEN glorious days! So Merry Christmas all and until next time, let it snow, because that's all it's doing up here in Idaho Falls anyway.

Here we go....

2008-11-11T19:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I finally broke down and decided to try this blog thing. So be prepared for something in the not-too-distant future, eh?