Gangsta Rapstas and Country Hicks

Happy Birthday Kent

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"

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!!!

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!!!

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!

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!!!