I'm Expecting...Something Adorable :)

Who would have thought that these...


Could make this...


It's amazing isn't it? And what's even more amazing is that I did it!


It's my very first baby hat, and I want to continue to practice so if any of you baby mama's and daddy's want a hat, just let me know :)

Oh, and any of you fellow knitters here is the pattern for this adorable baby hat:

CO 90 sts
Work in 2 x 2 rib as follows for 4 inches:
Row 1: *K2, P2*, ending K2
Row 2: *P2, K2,* ending P2

Begin Broken Rib pattern:
Row 1: K1, P1
Row 2: K
Row 3: Rep Row 1
Row 4: *K8, k2tog* rep to end of row [80 sts]
Row 5: Rep Row 1 (this will break up the pattern where dec's were made, but that is OK)
Row 6: *K7, k2tog* rep to end of row
Rows 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17: Rep Row 5
Row 8: *K6, k2tog* rep to end of row
Row 10: *K5, k2tog* rep to end of row
Row 12: *K4, k2tog* rep to end of row
Row 14: *K3, k2tog* rep to end of row
Row 16: *K2, k2tog* rep to end of row
Row 18: *K1, k2tog* rep to end of row

Rep Row 18 until 4 sts remain.
Knit 3.5 inches of I-cord over the 4 sts left.

If not making I-cord, then finish decreasing the 4 sts down to one and BO. You could also crochet a little tail of decoration at the top if you wish.

Sew side seam with tapestry needle.

It's for 6 month to one year old babies, and can I just say that I am beyond mind blown that I made that by myself...well with a lot of moral support from my wonderful husband, and some help from my friend Brianna who helped me find the pattern for the flower and talks to me about knitting at work, haha.

Joseph's First Gun

August 2nd was my brother Joseph's 20th birthday! He's getting so old, but don't worry he's still the size of a 10 year old, haha.


As Neil and I were thinking about what we should get Joseph for his 20th birthday, we were stumped. He told us he wanted a DVD collection of Batman cartoons which we couldn't find, so as we were walking around Target we saw a Nerf Gun and knew that Joseph had to have it. Knowing that my parents would absolutely LOVE for Joseph to chase them around their house shooting a Nerf Gun at them, we got it for him.

Neil took about 15 minutes wrapping Joseph's Nerf Gun in at least 10 plastic bags, and it took Joseph about 30 minutes to get his present unwrapped. He was bustin' up while he was unwrapping it and kept saying "I can't believe you would do this to me."


But after the present was successfully unwrapped, Joseph loved it and said to Alexis, "Get ready for the Apocalypse!"


Neil then had to teach Joseph how to use the gun and load the Nerf ammo and such, and right after Neil taught him, the student turned on the teacher and the war began!


After my parents home became a miniature war zone we decided to rest and have some cake. Neil and I were in charge of bringing the cake and ice cream, and we decided we'd buy him some trick candles, but after we lit them and followed the directions, the candles weren't so tricky. So Neil became the trickster and would quickly relight the candles after Joseph would walk away so that Joseph would have to blow them out over again. This happened about three times before Joseph caught Neil in the act.


So Joseph blew his candles out for the final time, and we pronounced him 20 years old!


Joseph's birthday party was awesome because he's pretty much a party animal. We were very happy that his present was a hit. My mom told us that every night before he gets into bed, he'll read his scriptures, say his prayers, and then shoot a round of his Nerf Gun at his closet door, haha. Neil was hoping he'd quickly get tired of his present because Neil wanted it then, haha.

Just a Little Street Fire to Celebrate Pioneers

In Utah on July 24th everyone takes off work and celebrates Pioneer Day...it's pretty much like another July 4th, Utah style.

Every year Neil's cousin, Ian, who works for TNT does a huge firework show in front of his parents house and a bunch of their family friends come to watch it. Last year was my first Street Fire Pioneer Day, and Ian and Colin (Ian's brother and Neil's Best Friend Forever!) did not disappoint. This year was even better, but Colin missed out because he is currently serving his mission in LA, so I made sure to take mucho pictures for him.

This is what thousands of dollars worth of fireworks on the street look like...






Now that's what I call street fire.


The boys setting up for the Grand Finale!






As you can see it was a pretty legit fireworks show. The road still had marks on it from last years firework show and I'm sure this years just added to that.

"I'm NOT leaving until I see a Moose!"

The last week of June I had off work and everyone at work was going on a vacation, and I felt left out, so I made Neil take off work and we went up to Yellowstone for three days.


Neither one of us had ever been before so we did a lot of research on what we should see/wanted to see and planned out our three day Yellowstone trip, and let me tell you...it was AMAZING! We stayed in a cabin in the Lake Area of the park which was very nice...much nicer then I expected.




There were so many incredible things in Yellowstone. I was lucky Neil drove the entire time so I could just look out the window and enjoy the beautiful scenery.






There were also a lot of beautiful waterfalls and cascades that we loved.






There of course were a BUNCH of geysers and mudpots...anything stinky, acidic and steamy is found in Yellowstone...no joke. By the end of the trip we knew we would never be able to enjoy a boiled egg like we did before just because the boiled egg smell was all over Yellowstone...if you've been you would understand.






There was also amazing wildlife. We saw wolves, bears, buffalo up the wazoo, and elk. But of course we didn't see the one animal I wanted to see...a moose. I even told Neil that I wouldn't leave Yellowstone until I saw one...but he made me leave anyways.





On top of being able to see so many amazing things, it was so nice to just spend time alone with Neil and enjoy his company. It's amazing how busy we can get with work so it was nice to not have to stress about anything and just relax together.

Week One Down

A week ago today I started my job at Kids On the Move as a Developmental Specialist, and so far I LOVE it!

I was super nervous for my first day...I honestly got about the same amount of sleep as a kid on Christmas Eve it was ridiculous.


This is me before I left for work. Neil was just as excited for me as I was and making sure I didn't hyperventilate due to how nervous I was.

When I got to Kids On the Move I received my first weeks schedule of meetings and home visits and such. I met my team and they are all very nice and I'm constantly asking them questions which I'm sure is beyond annoying, but they'll probably get used to it since I have a three month training period where I will be learning all of my responsibilities and perfecting them.

When I got home after my first day I was excited to tell Neil all about it, and he was very enthusiastic and excited to hear all the boring details.


Haha, when I got home Neil was at the door taking pictures of me getting out of my car and walking up the stairs like my first day of Kindergarten (hence the ugly, laughing face).

I am still feeling pretty overwhelmed just because I know there is still so much I have to learn but I'm enjoying learning from my amazing, experienced co-workers, and working with all of the children and families.

Happy Birthday to Me

So as some of you may know my 22nd birthday was May 23rd and Neil took it upon himself to create an amazing birthday WEEK for me.


Whenever we were at a store like, oh I don't know...IKEA, or something, I would see something and be like oh I really like that and he would just get it for me...no questions asked. He really spoiled me which was fun. I told him it was a good thing that I only have a birthday once a year, haha.

Throughout the week he spoiled me and then continued to spoil me over the weekend. On Friday my diploma came which I'm sure he arranged, haha, just kidding, but getting that definitely added to the birthday hype. On Friday Neil took me out to dinner to a soup and salad buffet place called Sweet Tomatoes and we got stuffed to the rim and then he took me to see a movie-When in Rome-which was very cute.

On Saturday Neil continued to spoil me with gifts galore-cardigans, knitting supplies, a frame for my diploma, and then our friend from Virginia, who pretty much introduced us back in the day, came down to Draper to help celebrate my birthday. Don't worry Mattie doesn't live in Virginia he lives in Farmington, Utah, but it was so fun to see him and spend time with him like the good ole Virginia days. We went and played MiniGolf (so fun/funny) and then we ate at Bajio's one of my favorite places to eat. After getting stuffed yet again we played games at our house and watched X-Files (our current movie marathon that's going on).

On Sunday we had a dinner with my family and we played Balloon Volleyball (of course). It was such an enjoyable and relaxing weekend with friends and family.


See Neil, my family and in-laws totally spoil me. I'm so blessed to have such an amazing family!

Sweet, Sweet Love

So as of May 1st Neil and I have officially been together (dating/married/in love) for a whole year! Neil is just so amazing and I have honestly loved every minute of being with him.

It was nice because May 1st was a Saturday so we got to pretty much spend all day together! We woke up nice and early, okay at like 9 o'clock and the first thing we did was participate in a Stake Dodgeball Tournament, haha I know, I didn't know they did church dodgeball either, but they do.


We had two games-one at 9:30 and one at 10, and don't worry we won both! We are so intimidating the other teams didn't even show for both games! Haha. So we broke up our team and played a few fun games, but we are honestly so sore now, haha, you should have seen us trying to walk around, and trying to sustain our leaders at Stake Conference on Sunday, haha, funny yet painful.

After our Dodgeball adventure we went to a soccer game of a little girl in our primary class named Annie and it was so fun! It's been pretty cold and rainy the past few days, but thankfully it didn't rain during her game.


It was nice to talk to Annie's family and watch her play soccer, she made us real proud!

After the game Neil and I ate at Wienerschnitzel and then Neil volunteered at Deseret Industries for 2 hours, and I decided I would just wait in the car and read the book I got at the library called "The Calligrapher's Daughter".


It's a really good book. It's about a girl who grew up in Korea during the time the Japanese invaded Korea and a lot of changes towards the Western style of living were happening. I've really enjoyed it.

After volunteering at DI for two hours which made Neil even more sore, we came home and I made my lovely husband Shepherd's Pie which he loves, and then we had the Adult Session of Stake Conference.

Afterwards we came home and drank Sparkling Cider to celebrate our one year anniversary.


We then just relaxed the rest of the night and watched Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman!


It was pretty much a perfect ending to a perfect one year (togetherness) anniversary because we love each other and we love Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman!