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| Baby. |
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| Peace Mom! |
September 7, 2016
Sneak Peek
Here is a little sneak peek at our little one. Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl!
During this particular ultrasound the baby yawned on the monitor, it was really neat to see that!
September 6, 2016
Life Update, Weekend In Review & Hiking The Thurston Hills
I have a little bit more time as of late to blog. The lumber industry has recently taken a dive, rumor is that it's due to the upcoming election. As a result, I am on layoff status- this may end up being a blessing in disguise for us.
We closed on our first home about a week and a half ago and things have been crazy! Lots of painting, small fixes, and deep cleaning going on here. Nothing like finding cat hair in your freezer and oven or sand in your cupboards. We hope to have things where we want them in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, everything is literally everywhere.
Friday
We grabbed a bite to eat and spent the evening at the hardware store picking out paint samples-- it's what married people do for date night.
Saturday
My aunt and uncle were passing thought town on a Spider (motorcycle) adventure and stopped by to say hi, it was really good to see them.
After they left, Andy and I went back to the hardware store with a huge shopping list. We came home with all kinds of fun stuff for projects. We hung up a few new lights and started taping rooms off to paint.
Sunday
We went to our new ward for the first time. One of the things I love about the church is that it is the same no matter where you go. People were friendly, we are hoping to make some new friends soon. One couple in our ward lives down the road from us, they were very sweet and brought us some cinnamon rolls. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a cinnamon roll, they know the way to make a pregnant lady happy!
Monday
We did some serious painting in the bathroom, it looks so good! We just need to make a few touch ups and hang all of the fixtures back up. I'm getting excited to have one room done!
We went hiking up in the Thurston Hills in the afternoon. The trail isn't groomed, so it took a little while for us to find the trail head. The hike was beautiful! Lots of green! We loved standing out on the cliffs and looking out over the valleys.
As we were coming down from the trail head we could hear a strange noise. Andy asked me what I thought it was and I said, "It sounds like someone is skateboarding." My guess was way wrong, it was definitely not someone skateboarding! As we came around the bend we could see a small cloud of smoke. Andy said, "That's either someone's house or the forest is on fire."
It was a wildfire. We watched the firetrucks, news crew, and helicopter arrive. It was sad to see the forest burn but at the same time it was really neat to watch the helicopter bring in water and dump it on the fire. We got sprinkled on a few times. The news crew interviewed Andy but they didn't put him on the air, he was a little disappointed.
For some reason, danger seems to follow us. We are really glad we choose to hike on the other hill and not the one that caught fire. We are counting our blessings over here.
We closed on our first home about a week and a half ago and things have been crazy! Lots of painting, small fixes, and deep cleaning going on here. Nothing like finding cat hair in your freezer and oven or sand in your cupboards. We hope to have things where we want them in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, everything is literally everywhere.
Friday
We grabbed a bite to eat and spent the evening at the hardware store picking out paint samples-- it's what married people do for date night.
Saturday
My aunt and uncle were passing thought town on a Spider (motorcycle) adventure and stopped by to say hi, it was really good to see them.
After they left, Andy and I went back to the hardware store with a huge shopping list. We came home with all kinds of fun stuff for projects. We hung up a few new lights and started taping rooms off to paint.
Sunday
We went to our new ward for the first time. One of the things I love about the church is that it is the same no matter where you go. People were friendly, we are hoping to make some new friends soon. One couple in our ward lives down the road from us, they were very sweet and brought us some cinnamon rolls. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a cinnamon roll, they know the way to make a pregnant lady happy!
Monday
We did some serious painting in the bathroom, it looks so good! We just need to make a few touch ups and hang all of the fixtures back up. I'm getting excited to have one room done!
We went hiking up in the Thurston Hills in the afternoon. The trail isn't groomed, so it took a little while for us to find the trail head. The hike was beautiful! Lots of green! We loved standing out on the cliffs and looking out over the valleys.
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| Lush and green. |
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| Andy & I. |
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| Made it to the top! |
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| Yahoo! |
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| Baby made it too! |
As we were coming down from the trail head we could hear a strange noise. Andy asked me what I thought it was and I said, "It sounds like someone is skateboarding." My guess was way wrong, it was definitely not someone skateboarding! As we came around the bend we could see a small cloud of smoke. Andy said, "That's either someone's house or the forest is on fire."
It was a wildfire. We watched the firetrucks, news crew, and helicopter arrive. It was sad to see the forest burn but at the same time it was really neat to watch the helicopter bring in water and dump it on the fire. We got sprinkled on a few times. The news crew interviewed Andy but they didn't put him on the air, he was a little disappointed.
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| Camera Man. |
For some reason, danger seems to follow us. We are really glad we choose to hike on the other hill and not the one that caught fire. We are counting our blessings over here.
August 31, 2016
Count Your Many Blessings
Sometimes life is crazy! Sometimes life is hard! And sometimes it just feels like the trials just keep raining down and never seem to let up.
As of late, life has been hard in a lot of different respects. It would be all to easy to get down on ourselves, have a pitty party and complain about how much life sucks. We do have our moments where we complain but for the most part we have chosen to look for the positive things in life, our blessings. When you start to look for the blessings in your life, it may surprise you how much the Lord really had done for you. He is there. He is real. He is looking out for you. And most of all, He wants you to be happy now! Not later or someday in the far distant future. He wants you to find joy in the journey, in this adventure we call life.
Some of our blessings as of late:
As of late, life has been hard in a lot of different respects. It would be all to easy to get down on ourselves, have a pitty party and complain about how much life sucks. We do have our moments where we complain but for the most part we have chosen to look for the positive things in life, our blessings. When you start to look for the blessings in your life, it may surprise you how much the Lord really had done for you. He is there. He is real. He is looking out for you. And most of all, He wants you to be happy now! Not later or someday in the far distant future. He wants you to find joy in the journey, in this adventure we call life.
Some of our blessings as of late:
- We were able to get pre-approved, found a house, put an offer in, and had the offer accepted within a week. There were no hiccups along the way and we were able to close on time.
- So many people were willing to help us pack, clean, load and move our stuff, it was truly amazing!
- Someone gave us 28 cases of food storage (rice, wheat, popcorn, and hot cereal).
- The Young Women during an activity fixed the strut on our car-- not sure how they did it, but we didn't have to replace it.
- Someone offered up a bunch of pears, we were able to can them to eat at a later date.
- They did layoffs at Andy's work yesterday and he still has a job.
- We picked up about $2000.00 worth of baby and maternity stuff in like new condition at a yard sale for $121.00.
- Others have given us new and gently used baby items. We don't know what it is like to have a baby but we imagine all this stuff will come in handy in the near future.
- I was able to get into the birthing class I wanted.
- I was able to get into the hospital and receive a Priesthood blessing for the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had.
- Two vehicles behind us were in an accident. One of the vehicles slid past our car and rolled right in front of us. We were kept safe and we were able to help those involved in the accident.
- Our baby is healthy, we are healthy.
- We have each other and we make a great team! Neither of us can imagine life without the other.
- We have the gospel in our lives and that makes all the difference.
August 26, 2016
Home Owners
We got the keys to our new place today! Let the moving commence!
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| Me, Andy, Grandpa & Grandma Hicken. |
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| Dad, Julie, Me & Andy. |
August 25, 2016
Adventures In Home Buying
Today we bought a house! We are home owners! It is crazy!
We have talked about buying a house for sometime, but it always seemed like it was something that would happen sometime in the distant future. When we found out we were expecting, we knew we needed to find some place bigger to live.
Andy talked with our bishop, he works at a bank and used to be in the mortgage business. He suggested that we talk with a particular mortgage brokerage. Andy made a call and setup an appointment to meet with a gal on a Monday night. The meeting went really well. She asked if we had a real estate agent and we told her know, so she recommended someone. Andy called the agent the next day but was unable to make contact. He called her again on Wednesday and she sent us a bunch of listings. We went through the listings and picked out seven houses that we were interested in seeing and e-mailed her back.
The next day when Andy spoke with the agent she said that half of those houses went to closing overnight. She told us that there is a housing shortage in the area and houses aren't typically on the market for more than a week. She setup appointments for us to go see the remaining houses on our list on Saturday.
We looked at 4 different homes and felt particularly drawn to one. The agent told us to think about it and to give her a call tomorrow if we wanted to put an offer in.
We drove to the temple that night to pray about our decision. Things felt right so Andy called the agent the next day after church and said we wanted to put an offer in. The agent said someone just put an offer in on the house but it hadn't been accepted yet. She said we would have to work fast and she would see what she could do. She was on the phone with our mortgage broker in a matter of minutes, they came up with a game plan and we submitted our offer.
The next morning our offer was accepted. Within one week we got preapproved, found an agent, found a house, put an offer in, and had the offer accepted. That's pretty crazy!
We were told to expect problems to come up as that is normal, but there weren't any problems. We know this is where we are supposed to be. We feel like the Lord has guided us here. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us.
After we signed the papers for the house, we went to get a cashiers check for the down payment. On our way back to drop off the check there was an accident.
The very short version of the story is that a car was t-boned. When the car got t-boned the driver accelerated, the car flew past us on the shoulder, clipped the curb and rolled right in front of us. It was pretty surreal! I pulled out my phone and called 911 and Andy went and pulled a man out of the car. Three people and two cars were involved in the accident, one person was taken to the hospital but everyone was okay.
We aren't sure how or why but danger always seems to find us. We are so grateful we were kept safe and that we were able to help the people who were involved in the accident. The Lord truly is mindful of us.
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| Just finished signing the papers. |
We have talked about buying a house for sometime, but it always seemed like it was something that would happen sometime in the distant future. When we found out we were expecting, we knew we needed to find some place bigger to live.
Andy talked with our bishop, he works at a bank and used to be in the mortgage business. He suggested that we talk with a particular mortgage brokerage. Andy made a call and setup an appointment to meet with a gal on a Monday night. The meeting went really well. She asked if we had a real estate agent and we told her know, so she recommended someone. Andy called the agent the next day but was unable to make contact. He called her again on Wednesday and she sent us a bunch of listings. We went through the listings and picked out seven houses that we were interested in seeing and e-mailed her back.
The next day when Andy spoke with the agent she said that half of those houses went to closing overnight. She told us that there is a housing shortage in the area and houses aren't typically on the market for more than a week. She setup appointments for us to go see the remaining houses on our list on Saturday.
We looked at 4 different homes and felt particularly drawn to one. The agent told us to think about it and to give her a call tomorrow if we wanted to put an offer in.
We drove to the temple that night to pray about our decision. Things felt right so Andy called the agent the next day after church and said we wanted to put an offer in. The agent said someone just put an offer in on the house but it hadn't been accepted yet. She said we would have to work fast and she would see what she could do. She was on the phone with our mortgage broker in a matter of minutes, they came up with a game plan and we submitted our offer.
The next morning our offer was accepted. Within one week we got preapproved, found an agent, found a house, put an offer in, and had the offer accepted. That's pretty crazy!
We were told to expect problems to come up as that is normal, but there weren't any problems. We know this is where we are supposed to be. We feel like the Lord has guided us here. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us.
After we signed the papers for the house, we went to get a cashiers check for the down payment. On our way back to drop off the check there was an accident.
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| The rolled vehicle is in front of our silver car. |
The very short version of the story is that a car was t-boned. When the car got t-boned the driver accelerated, the car flew past us on the shoulder, clipped the curb and rolled right in front of us. It was pretty surreal! I pulled out my phone and called 911 and Andy went and pulled a man out of the car. Three people and two cars were involved in the accident, one person was taken to the hospital but everyone was okay.
We aren't sure how or why but danger always seems to find us. We are so grateful we were kept safe and that we were able to help the people who were involved in the accident. The Lord truly is mindful of us.
August 24, 2016
Shooting
We took the Young Women shooting tonight. I think everyone had a pretty good time. I was a little nervous about going shooting since I'm pregnant, I thought the loud noises might scare the baby - luckily no crazy kicking took place inside the belly.
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| Brooklyn, Wade, Avery, & Tony. |
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| Rachel, Autumn, Lydia, Carel, & Sarah. |
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| Melissa, Brooklyn, & Wade. |
August 21, 2016
Garden Party Fail
I went to a garden party this week that was put on by the Relief Society. The evening consisted of sitting outside in a beautiful backyard, eating salads, and feeling spiritually uplifted and renewed.
The next night, things weren't so great...I woke up at 11:00 pm and started throwing up. By 3:30 am I had thrown up about 50 times. You know it's bad when it's coming out both ends and you can't leave the bathroom.
After talking to one of the ob doctors and the triage nurses we decided it was time to make a trip to the ER.
I spent the next 4 hours or so hooked up to an IV. I managed to stop throwing up for a little while and actually got some sleep. I felt really bad for Andy because he had to sit on a hard metal folding chair.
We went home and I continued to throw up anything and everything (including water, soda, and Powerade) until about 6:00 pm.
We later learned that I had food poisoning and it came from the garden party. It was 105 degrees that day and a lot of the salads had mayo in them. I wasn't the only one to get sick or go to the hospital, about 15 other women got sick too.
I'm grateful that the doctors were able to get fluids into me and that the baby appears to be okay. I don't think I will be eating at potlucks anytime soon.
The next night, things weren't so great...I woke up at 11:00 pm and started throwing up. By 3:30 am I had thrown up about 50 times. You know it's bad when it's coming out both ends and you can't leave the bathroom.
After talking to one of the ob doctors and the triage nurses we decided it was time to make a trip to the ER.
I spent the next 4 hours or so hooked up to an IV. I managed to stop throwing up for a little while and actually got some sleep. I felt really bad for Andy because he had to sit on a hard metal folding chair.
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| The nice comfy ER bed. |
We went home and I continued to throw up anything and everything (including water, soda, and Powerade) until about 6:00 pm.
We later learned that I had food poisoning and it came from the garden party. It was 105 degrees that day and a lot of the salads had mayo in them. I wasn't the only one to get sick or go to the hospital, about 15 other women got sick too.
I'm grateful that the doctors were able to get fluids into me and that the baby appears to be okay. I don't think I will be eating at potlucks anytime soon.
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