Summertime part 3: Utah!

After staying in Lava for a night we headed to Utah! We stopped in Salt Lake City on our way in to play tourists and have a picnic at the State Capitol. We also checked out a couple other places downtown and of course stopped by City Creek just for fun. Note to self (and anyone reading): The Church History museum is amazing and wonderful but it's huge and you could spend days in there! Don't be disappointed if your tired pregnant body doesn't want to walk around the entire thing in one day. It's free, you can always go back. But you have to hurry, they're closing the day after Conference Weekend for some big changes. You're welcome.

On Saturday, August 23rd, Tom and his sister Kenna ran the Top of Utah Half Marathon! Kenna had been training for a while and Tom decided to join her a few weeks ago. We drove up to Logan the night before and stayed with Michelle and James Day and their cute kids. They were so nice to let us stay for a few hours, we so enjoyed chatting with them. Plus, they have one of the cutest kittens known to mankind named Cinnamon. Tom was completely obsessed. Look at that face!

And by obsessed I mean that when we got up at 4:20 am Tom went and got the kitty out of bed to play with it for a few minutes before we left. Oh man, we're in trouble. Both Tom and I are huge animal people and I'm afraid that we'll have ourselves a zoo if our kids are anything like us in that regard! I know my family is totally rolling their eyes at this ;) Good thing a ranch and lots of land is in the dream/goal book! And don't worry Mom, no cats inside so you can visit your grandkids :)

Anyway, the half marathon! Tom did amazingly well for having not trained very much! He came in at 1:52:00, tired and happy as can be. He loves running so much, it makes me so happy to watch him run!

Kenna was nervous before the race (I would be too!) but as she came down the final stretch and saw us cheering she was all smiles and said "I can do this!!" Kenna is an inspiration to me!

That picture was for posterity's sake. Tom thinks it would be super cool if our son ran the Top of Utah half and then we show him this picture to prove that it began long ago when his dad ran that race! Too bad you can't see my bump very well in the picture!

Oh, there it is. Or I just look large, which is pretty accurate. So proud of Kenna and Tom!

Watching them made me super excited to run a half marathon myself! After the baby's born and I've recovered I'm going to ease back into running (given that my body will allow it) and do a half marathon when we move to Texas in April. Oh, did I mention that we're moving to Texas in April? Once Tom graduates we'll move there to start building residency since both of the grad schools he's applying to are in Texas. We're still not sure which city - either San Antonio or Dallas. Yay!

Once back in Lake Point, we soaked up a lot of time with Tyson, Kayla, Jaxson, and baby Kiah! She is the sweetest little newborn and we love her so much! It was so sweet to watch Tom interact with Kiah. I can't wait till our little guy comes and I can watch Tom adore our son!

Family tradition time! We took a trip up to Brighton (it's a ski resort, but we didn't ski obviously...) for breakfast and a hike around the lake. Brighton is such a beautiful place and it was so fun to be there all together!

One of my favorites - family selfie!

During our time in Utah, the boys helped Cory re-roof their house! One of the more challenging parts (at least it looked that way to me) was just getting those shingles up there! They had a nice system going:

Not pictured is all the help they got to actually put the shingles on. It was a two-day affair and there were so many wonderful people who came to help! And the roof looks so great, I never noticed shingles before but now I do! Mostly just because Tom is looking at all the houses and pointing out the roofs to me :)

Tom and Jaxson bonded over this trip a lot, Jaxson is at such fun age where he's super interactive and a total ham! We are still quoting him all the time with all the cute things he said/did. We miss them so much already!

Another highlight was my best friend and old roommate Tara returning from her mission! She served in New York, New York South. I'm so happy she's home! Even if she doesn't come back to Rexburg, I'm so happy she's home to chat with. We talked on the phone for nearly an hour one day and then a few days later we got to go to Provo and meet up with her! We went to the BYU Creamery and chatted for a long time. I love Tara so much and am so proud of the wonderful work she did in New York. I'm so excited to see where life takes her next!

Not pictured events that I wish I would have gotten:

- Baby shower! Tom's mom threw me a baby shower and we were spoiled rotten! The people in Lake Point are amazing. You know the saying that it takes a village to raise a child? Well whether it was necessary or not, Lake Point totally did that with Tom. They watched him grow up and love him so much. They spoiled us last year at our wedding and now this year for our baby - crazy how time flies! The shower was so much fun, and we really are so grateful for all the gifts we received for our baby.

- We found a jogging stroller! The tires need a little help and TLC but I'd say that $30 for a nice stroller is not a bad deal at all!

- We crafted a lot. I can't show the pictures or say what we did quite yet (after Christmas :) ), but we had so much fun making things. 

- We went to the Ogden Temple open house! Tom has pictures but I didn't get any on my phone. It was such a beautiful experience! That temple is GORGEOUS, if you can go everyone should! The artwork in that temple was different from what I've noticed in other temples and I loved it! Plus, I got to see one of my good friends who is serving her mission in Ogden! Holla, Sister Greene!

- We visited all of Tom's grandparents! They are the sweetest. It's so nice to have them relatively close so we can visit and make memories with them.

- Before we hung out with Tara, we got to spend a few hours with Jeff, Kerri, and Jane! I'm so glad they're back in Provo and we can see them more frequently. Jane is the cutest little thing and we had so much fun playing with her, talking with Jeff and Kerri, and we went to the BYU Farmer's Market! Of course we picked up some peaches which we promptly devoured with brown sugar and milk after Kerri's delicious dinner for us. They spoil us! We love spending time with family and only wish we were all closer together.

And now we're back! We have two weeks before school starts again and although we don't have any big plans, we're determined to soak up as much fun as we can! Kenna is coming up after she takes (AND PASSES!) her nursing exam which we're way excited for. The weather is getting cooler and more Fall-ish which I'm totally loving...oh I love Fall. But in the meantime we are thoroughly enjoying our summer break!

Consider yourself caught up. Boom.

Summertime part 2: Lava Hot Springs

After a few weeks of bumming around we were so excited to go to Utah for a while! We decided to celebrate our anniversary/babymoon on the way down by stopping at Lava Hot Springs, where we spent part of our honeymoon. (Pause: Can I just say that it's CRAZY that I've been married a year?! I could and probably should do a whole post about that, but for now suffice it to say that this has been by far the best year ever. I know everyone told me marriage would be wonderful and hard but wow I could not have imagined it being so good. I am crazy about Tom and I feel like that just grows more and more as we experience challenges and changes. I am oh so blessed to be his wife!)

Lava was so much fun! Tom and I are very simple people, we realized again. And we love it that way! We didn't do much (I'm a little bit slower and not as adventurous these days and can't exactly tube the river or get in the hot springs like I normally would!), but it was so nice to just get away. Lava is such a quaint little town! We love it so much. While we were there we walked all around the town, visited the museum, watched America Ninja Warrior (does anyone else love that show like we do?!), ate at the Thai food place that we're crazy about, got square ice cream (famous in Lava), and more. It was the perfect getaway!

If anyone goes to Lava, you have to check out the Sunken Gardens! It's a hidden treasure that we discovered on our honeymoon as we were walking home from dinner at the Thai Food place. It's beautiful!

My cute husband enjoying his ice cream cone :)

Those are the only pictures I didn't put on Instagram that I find worth emailing to myself and downloading. We stayed at the Lava Home Hotel, which was a first for us. Not that we're experts or anything but we've now stayed at three different places in our two trips there. Our favorite was the Riverside Inn, where we stayed for a night on our honeymoon, just in case you're looking for recommendations.

One of my favorite things about Tom is how simple things are with him. I know I mentioned it before, but I seriously love it. We can have just as much fun being poor as we would with a lot of money, which is pretty great cause I get the feeling we'll be on the former end of that for a while (thank you upcoming grad school!). Our honeymoon was nothing lavish but it was the best trip of my life, and this trip to Lava was a great reminder of that. For breakfast we had yogurt and granola that we brought from home and mixed it with peaches we bought at the local market and sat by the river to enjoy it. I think that the mentality that a lot of people have that everything has to be a big huge expensive deal is...well it's not for us, I guess is what I'm trying to say. And I'm really grateful for that.

Summer time part 1

This is the first time that Tom has stayed up in Rexburg for the 7 week break. It's also the first time that we have both had such wide open schedules to do whatever we want! I guess that's an upside to being unemployed and far away from family, eh?

While the semester was a breeze for me, it was actually the third super stressful semester in a row for Tom. All that stress was taking a toll on him so we feel that this summer break is a huge blessing for his health and our sanity. Plus it's just really fun to not have many plans for a bit! We'll certainly never get this chance again in our lives, so we are really trying to soak it in.

So what exactly have we been up to? Well I was blessed to find at-home employment. It seriously is such a huge answer to prayer. I love what I'm doing (secretarial and social media work for an entrepreneur in DC who owns/co-owns 5 different companies) and the flexibility with the schedule. This is a job I'll keep when our little guy makes his world debut as it only requires as little as a few minutes a day if I can't commit to more.

Tom also found a little summer work as a teacher for Education Week at BYU-Idaho. It was not exactly what he had expected, but we're grateful for the income it provided and the learning experience we found it to be.

Other than that, it's been a very relaxing summer! We've watched a lot of movies, cooked a lot of yummy food, worked on organizing our house better, and a lot of fun little things. This is the most time we've spent together in our marriage which I think is a huge blessing right before the baby comes! There always comes a point in time where you feel tired of vacation, ready to get back into a schedule and stuff, you know? For me that's already starting to happen (at least sometimes it is), but Tom says he hasn't quite hit that yet. He has another two weeks to get there before it's forced upon him ;)

We found this sewing machine at DI! There are a couple parts missing but the machine is in excellent condition and we got it for $15 - an unheard of deal for their sewing machines. Yes this may be the second non-functioning sewing machine I have, but I'm really going to get this one usable before summer ends so I can keep myself occupied and work on sewing. My mom is an incredible seamstress and I've never had the patience to learn the art, but I'm determined now!

On one of the three days of Education Week I went to campus to have lunch with Tom. We went to the Greenhouse here on campus (not an eating establishment, it's just literally a greenhouse) which was a first for me. I loved it! I will definitely be going back there if nothing else to enjoy some therapy humidity, warmth, and green lush landscaping that is non-existent during Rexburg winters.

During our first trip to Utah we went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple. I love having so many temples to choose from when we visit! I would love to make it to all the Utah temples one day. So far we've done Provo, Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Jordan River, Oquirrh Mountain. There are still quite a few left with more coming, we'd better get a move on before we leave the west!

One of our summer fun things was buying and painting our initials to hang up on our wall. Then for our anniversary we decided to buy canvas prints of two of our favorite wedding pictures. I love the result! Our room is still quite bare but it's a process, right?

You know what I love? Tom. You know what I also love? Rodeos. And when you get Tom at a FREE rodeo, I think you've got yourself a pretty great night. At least those were my thoughts! The Madison County Fair and Rodeo was going and we couldn't resist a free date! I really do love rodeos. One day I'll be the Rodeo Queen ;) I think my favorite part is the Mutton Bustin' they do for kids 5 and under - it's hilarious! Those are some brave kids, and some crazy sheep!

The pregnancy continues to go extremely well! I reached 28 weeks which means I took the glucose test. I feel blessed becuase I've heard how nasty the drink is and was really not looking forward to it. But my flavor was not bad! It tasted like a melted orange popsicle. A LOT of melted orange popsicle. But everything looks great, still! No diabetes for me. I have been so blessed this pregnancy with great health and strength and there have been absolutely no problems with our baby boy. I really can't complain! I keep telling people that I'm nervous that the delivery will be crazy or that our boy will be two big handfuls or something since my pregnancy has been just too easy! Then one of our friends said "or maybe you'll just have 12 kids and that will be your burden - a big family!" Woah, thanks for the perspective. I guess we'll just have to see...;)

Not pictured events that I could kick myself for:

- Mom, Dad, Jeff, Kerri, Jane, and my in-laws coming to town for graduation! Kenna and I both graduated so it was a fun family affair. Being away from family is hard stuff and I was so grateful that I had a few family members to celebrate graduating with. While they were here, we of course shopped for fabric for a baby quilt and car seat cover. Tom and I showed them a real good Idaho time by taking them bridge jumping! And we ate at The Mandarin - the only legitimate and delicious Chinese food place in Rexburg. It was so nice having family in town, I miss them so much!

- The Baker's came to town! Since they live in New Jersey now it was quite the treat. We LOVED spending a couple of days with them. Kim and Caleb are such great examples to us and it was so so nice to have one of my sisters here to chat with. Being with your sisters does good for the soul, I like to think. Plus being around baby Zoe who was 6 weeks old at the time (I think) was so great - she is the best baby ever! I hope before she came from heaven she taught our baby a thing or two about behaving on earth! We miss you, Bakers, come back anytime!

- Tom's cousin Ali and her two friends came to EFY up here, so they stayed with us one Sunday night and we dropped them off on campus the next day after helping them get situated. It was so fun to have some young girls in the house and remember what it was like to be a teenager anticipating a fun thing like EFY. Most of the excitement was about boys, of course :)

End of the semester

I know, you may be thinking your eyes are deceiving you because this looks like a new post! Well, indeed it is. I am SO behind on posting what we've been up to, so here come a few very brief updates on what's been going on at the Cook home!

I finished my last semester of college! That is still pretty surreal to me. In the last few weeks I made a special effort to soak up everything about the school and my classes. Luckily I'll still be on campus frequently since Tom has a couple more semesters. This last semester was so fun! I had a lot of really fun classes that I thoroughly enjoyed. Even though I graduated, it still hasn't quite hit me that I'm done! I guess when Tom goes back to school and I don't maybe that will happen? We'll see.

Without further ado, pictures! Not many and they're not great, but pictures nonetheless.

I took a foods class this semester and it was one of the best decisions I made for classes ever! I learned so much and really increased my confidence in the kitchen. I don't have pictures of our fourth of July adventures (although it was one of the best yet!) but I did get a picture of my very first made from scratch apple pie:

I don't even like apple pie, but I loved this. It was that good, a great recipe for sure.

Moving right along, we moved! It's kind of a funny story how we found our new place but we are now renting the upstairs of a house from an 86 year old woman. It's saving us a lot of money every month (and I mean a lot) in rent and other expenses, so we can handle the odd things that we didn't anticipate about living with good ol' Reldie-pies.

The moving process took place over a period of 3 weeks. We were still in school, so it was very slow going. Just one or two car loads here and there. Then one weekend we recruited help from Tom's parents, our good friend Coty, and amazing cousin Ethan to move all the big items of furniture, clean the apartment super well, and get us somewhat settled into our new home.

It was bittersweet moving out of our first apartment! We have had so many wonderful memories there, it was our first apartment after all! But we were both very ready for this move which is an upgrade in so many ways.

Another big experience for me this last semester was teaching piano lessons! I took a Piano Pedagogy class which is another one of the best decisions I made with my classes. Not only did they prepare you for the business side of piano teaching, but every week we actually taught a student! My student was so great. Her name is Amanda and it was such a great experience to teach her. I learned oh so much from teaching piano. At the end of the semester we had a fun recital themed "Music From Around the World". Each child represented a different country and Amanda chose China.

I'm sad that the only picture I have isn't very good - her eyes are closed and it's a bit blurry! But it captures the idea just the same.

It was such a great semester, full of memorable experiences and a whole lot of growth (and I don't just mean baby bump!). I have loved being a BYU-Idaho student, this school holds a special place in my heart and I'm glad we get to stick around for a little longer before heading off to bigger adventures!