Yup.

Yeah! It's been almost a year since I've written on here. I'm super awesome. That's okay though. Everyone who reads this blog already knows what goes on in my life. Maybe that's why I haven't written in a while. Or maybe I should just keep writing and then print these all out one day for my kids. Good idea. Let's see...

We're still in Utah living in the same apartment. Hopefully not for much longer though. Our contract is up in February and we've been preapproved for a home loan! Woo! So we're going to start looking at houses soon. It's kind of a pain in the butt though. We've been looking online and we see homes that we like, but then the school districts are terrible! I can't believe that I'm in the point of my life where I need to concern myself with the surrounding school district. I mean what the heck?! Oh well. Luckily there are a few towns close by that have good (really good for Utah) schools so I think we're going to try and move to one of those places. Nick and I disagree on some of the requirements for our home but I guess that's normal. I really just want a pantry and a fenced in yard and a good school district. Nick's list is way longer.

Rory is about 8 months old now. He crawls EVERYWHERE. Like I turn my back for 2 seconds and look back and he's gone! Koen isn't too fond of Rory being able to move because now he has to share all of his toys, not just the ones that he brings to Rory. Rory is a big eater. There isn't a food that he doesn't like. Even those nasty meat combo meals. Yuck. But I'm glad because he's healthy. He's mostly sleeping through the night sort of. He goes down around 9 and then wakes up between 5:30 and 7 am to eat and then goes back until Koen wakes him up. He LOVES being around Koen. Follows him around a lot too. Koen can just lay his head on Rory and Rory will laugh for a long time. Rory is pretty obsessed with my hair. Whenever I feed him, he wraps his hand up in my hair. Then he yanks on it. It hurts.

Koen will be turning 3 in a little over a month. Wow. That's actually the first time I've thought about that. I'm about to have a 3 year old! Next year he'll be in primary! I'll have a kid in the primary program. Weird. We've been working on potty training for a while. I kind of gave up for a little bit though because I decided he wasn't ready. All of a sudden though he's been all for it again. Like today, he pooped in the toilet for the first time! I hope he keeps doing that. If I don't have to change anymore of his poopy diapers, I will be so excited. Koen is still pretty little for his age. I'm pretty sure Rory is going to catch up to him soon. Oh well.

Nick is still working and loving his job. He's been traveling a lot more that I thought he would be. In April, he went to Mexico, June he went to Mississippi, and then in July he went to Japan. Luckily he hasn't been anywhere recently, but he told me last week he might put in a request to go to Detroit. Yay. Of all the places I want him to go, Detroit is not one of them. He went there once last year, and it made me nervous. I never hear good stories about that place. We found out that if Nick does get relocated to Japan, the earliest it would be is 2015, so that's good to know. Part of the reason we're house hunting. We are so tired of living in apartments.

Nothing has really changed for me. I got called to be the beehive advisor at the end of May and I absolutely love it. Other than that, I still just stay at home with the boys. I need to start on their Halloween costumes soon. For our anniversary, I got Nick the first season of Dragonball Z, and Koen loves to watch it with him, so for Halloween, Koen is going to be Goku and Rory is going to be K(C?)rillen. Yeah. Super dorks. That's okay though because we are awesome. Rory just woke up from his nap so I should probably go get him.

Updates

Ok. So here is what's gone on since August:

• Early September we found out we are having another boy!! We are naming him Rory Wheeler. Bam. Both parties win with that name.
• We went to Arizona at the end of October for the weekend. It was awesome. Koen loved being able to play with his cousin Jaxon. 
• Koen decided that he wanted to be like a 2 year old and have his terrible twos. Yay. I'm so excited.
• He likes to throw tantrums in public now. People without kids give me weird looks. They must not have kids.
• We took Koen trick or treating. He was a hobbit. I made him an AWESOME costume. Complete with the ring (I didn't make that though). Had some crazy lady speculate on whether or not Koen was too young to be out trick or treating. Please. He was 2 (ish). Not too young. He knows what candy is and he quite enjoys it. He also kept trying to go into people's houses when they would open the door. Weirdo.
• We had a party for him on the 3rd with some family and friends. It was a blast and Koen loves all the gifts he got (Thanks everyone!) His two favorites though are the little cash register Grandma Robin and Grandpa Paul gave him and the Thomas book that Grandma Katie and Grandpa Doug gave him. Thank you for those wonderful noise making toys. 
• We finally moved Koen into a big boy bed. I let him pick out his own sheets. He picked cars (surprise!) He's getting a lot better about staying in the bed while he sleeps but there are still a few nights when we check on him and he's in the middle of the floor.
• He is saying words and phrases now. It's getting a lot easier to understand him. 
• He lets you know what he wants and when he wants it. 
• He just ate a pound of strawberries in less than 24 hours. Yeah. New favorite food I'm thinking. Too bad they will probably make him poop. A lot.
• I took him to the doctor on Monday and he went from being in the 25 percentile for height to about the 40. He also isn't gaining weight like he should be (surprise he's tall and skinny just like the rest of the men on both sides of the family!) I also don't think that they got an accurate weight on him because he was not holding still. At all. They were about half a pound off. Not a lot, I know, but still. It puts him up a little bit higher on the chart. Also, we got blood tests done on Koen earlier this year and they all came back normal, but now the doctor thinks there is a chance that Koen has Celiac's disease since he poops so dang much. If he is allergic to gluten  I will be very upset. So I have to take him to get the same blood tests done. Again. Wonderful.
• I went in to do my blood glucose test on Saturday. I drank that super nasty drink, then went in to get my blood drawn and they were like hey we don't have your paperwork and it's Saturday so the office is closed and the doctor on call is really bad at calling back so we can't draw your blood today. Fantastic. So I have to drink a super nasty drink again. Hopefully I can get that done today. Perhaps.
• Rory thinks it is a great idea to constantly step on my bladder. Or as Caitlyn likes to think of it apparently, he's doing that gangnam style. Finally looked it up. Yeah that's pretty much what it feels like. I can't wait til he's here. In happy news baby related though, only 11.5 more weeks!!! Yeah! And in that time there is Thanksgiving and Christmas! So time should go by really fast. 
• The other day (Tuesday I think) I was making Koen an egg for breakfast, turned my back for literally a second, turn back around and he's got his finger on the burner. Happy day. When the pain finally kicked in he was inconsolable. I tried running his finger under cool water multiple times, aloe, tylenol, but he wouldn't let me pull his hand away from his side. He just wanted me to hold him in our bathroom in front of the mirror. So I did, every time I tried to walk out of the bathroom he freaked out. He eventually cried himself to sleep though. On me. So I laid in bed with him and every time I tried to move him off of me so I could get things done he woke up and waved his hands at me like he tends to do if I'm doing something he doesn't like. After his nap he was fine. I hope I never have to go through that again. It is so hard watching your kid in pain knowing there is nothing you can really do after everything you've already tried. Haha now I know a little tiny tiny bit how mom and dad felt raising me. Haha sorry parents. I don't know how parents survive with accident prone children. And mine isn't even that bad. I don't know how they don't have heart attacks every single time something happens to their kid.
• Whenever it's time for a diaper change, Koen will tell me he's poopy and needs a diaper and then he runs and hides from me. 
• He sings to tv shows now. He sings to chuggington, the hot dog song on Mickey, and the Jeopardy song. 
• Thomas the tank engine is his new love. Whenever Nick or I pull out the x box controller Koen thinks it means he gets to watch trains. Only sometimes.

Okay so I think that's all the important things. Eventually I will post pictures. Maybe.

Funny things

Ok so Koen has been doing some funny things lately and I figured if I don't write them down then I will forget them, and these are the things that make his childhood awesome. So here goes. Hopefully I can remember everything I want with this pregnant brain of mine.

• Koen loves to eat frozen peas. Nick was giving him some the other day, but Koen acted like he was all done with them. Nick got up to put them away and Koen screams (literally) NOO! Then Nick brought them back over and Koen continued to eat them like candy (yuck).
• Whenever I ask Koen if he wants a brother there is no answer, but if I ask if he wants a sister he will reply "sitta?" Yes like a question.
• If he farts, he tells you. He giggles and then says "fot!" We are so proud of him for that haha
• His new favorite thing to do is grab my flip flops (which I stole from Kristin (sorry about that I meant to give them to mom to take back when she was out here)) and put them on. He usually puts them on the right feet and between the right toes too. It's crazy. Then he walks around for a little with them on all excited like. Then he usually trips and they come off.
• He pulled one of Nick's gargantuan shoes out the other day, stuck his foot in, pulled it out, looked at me and said "gucky" (yucky). I laughed for a while after this. Now he has started saying it with all shoes. He also likes to bring me my heels and try to put them on my feet (usually the wrong ones and upside-down but hey, he's a toddler so who cares. He knows where they go!)
• He has also started saying phrases. Mostly what are you doing or something like that. It comes out "whadodo?" Kristin should be able to know exactly what that sounds like because it's how Kimball says/used to say it.
• He also does really cute things too. My favorite is when he says "daddy? hum?" Which in my mind means when is daddy coming home. 
• He wants to brush his own teeth now. Randomly during the day he will lay down in front of me and say "ni ni? bush tee?" Then I have to be the bearer (barer? Caitlyn?) of bad news and tell him it's not time yet. 
• He rediscovered his blocks. On the "M" block there is a picture of a mouse and one of a monkey. He looks at the mouse side and says "mickey!" and then the monkey side and says "maky! oo oo!" He knows what monkeys say! Also whenever he sees his blocks he HAS to have that block. The "M" block is his favorite.
• The other day I taught him "Popcorn Popping" and he LOVES it. I sang it to him one time and after that he kept coming up to me and saying "pocco pa! pocco pa!" Popcorn sounds an awful lot like popsicle in Koen words so it took me a few seconds to realize what he was saying to me. Then I sang it again and he tried to do the hand motions of the popcorn popping part. So now whenever he wants me to sing it, he says "pocco pa!" while doing the hand motion so I know what he's talking about.
• We read him the Book of Mormon every night before bed. We got to the part about Jesus in the Americas and decided it was a good time to teach him who Jesus was. I was excited when he started pointing and Jesus in the book and saying "Jees! Jees!" I didn't really think he would recognize Him outside of the book, but much to my surprise he does. We were at a friend's parent's house and they have a picture of Jesus (one by Simon Dewey, love him) and it's sort of a profile shot, but Koen looked at it and got excited and started going "Jees! Jees!" I couldn't believe it! I'm so happy that he knows who Jesus is now. I can't believe he's old enough...it's so crazy.

So I think that is everything and then some that I may or may not have written about before. Nick and I haven't changed much in our lives. We bought me a car this last weekend (finally). It's old but it runs. And it's missing some things and the cd player doesn't work well (haven't told Nick yet) but  I don't care. I'm not stuck in the house all day and I can get errands done while Nick is at work! Also, with this pregnancy, it's going better now. I'm gaining weight finally. And, we find out what we're having September 7! That is so soon! And I can't believe I'm almost halfway done with this pregnancy already. I mean, what the heck? I feel like I just found out. Oh well. I'm just excited for this baby to join the real world sometime soon. I can't feel it move yet, but I want my body back. I want to be able to do things again to. Like be motivated to move around and not just feel lazy all day. One good thing coming from this pregnancy though is that I crave fruit like nobody's business. Mostly (only) oranges. I go through a 4 pound bag in less than a week. So today at the store I bought 8 pounds. And they probably won't last me very long. But at least I'm getting my vitamin C right?

Updates

Alright so I'm obviously super awesome at keeping this up. Since I haven't posted since March (whoops), here is where we are in life now:

•  We moved to Utah in April
•  Nick is working for a company called Autoliv designing airbags for Nissans
• Koen started nursery in May and I LOVE THAT HE GOES THERE!
• I am a stay at home mom
• I am 13 weeks pregnant with baby number 2

So pretty much that's all that's new with the whole family. Surprisingly, nothing much. But Koen has come a long long way. He's almost 21 months now. What the heck happened to my little baby boy and when did he get to be so big?? So I guess here is an update on Koen:

• He has quite the little temper now if you don't do what he wants (say, put on his shoes or go outside with him)
• Very big vocab now. Pretty much mimics almost everything Nick or I say to him
• He's in nursery now but he puts up a fight every week so we just leave him and then he's fine
• He will sit and watch movies now. Every morning I go get him and after his daily asking for daddy (because I get him out of bed because daddy leaves for work at 7:45), he will ask for a "foofie" (movie). Movies that he loves right now: Cars 2, Gnomeo and Juliet, Despicable Me, Tangled, How to Train Your Dragon...
• He tells you what kind of food he wants to eat: affo (waffle), oggy (eggs), fishy (fishsticks), and some more that I can't remember right now
• He gets really excited to brush his teeth. We tell him it's bed time and he says "bus tee? bus tee?"
• He lets us know when he is stinky. He'll fart and then giggle and say "fot! fot!" 
• He is still in the 0 percentile for weight. At least he was in May. He's been eating better lately so hopefully he's moved up a little bit
• He likes to throw his blanket over his head and then walk around
• He sees cars and not only points them out, but says "CAR! CAR! CAR!" over and over and over again. And then he goes "car! voo voo"
• He likes to throw his arms behind him and squat down and walk like a weirdo
• Whenever Nick sits or lays on the ground he demands that Nick lets him get on his back so they can play together
• He LOVES when Nick comes home from work. He runs from wherever he is and looks at the door and says "daddy?" It's super cute to me
• He gets into the dishwasher and pulls stuff out to play with it. I have lost quite a few of my kitchen utensils to him
• He tries to clean himself up after he eats. He grabs the paper towel and says "mess" and wipes his face. Or sometimes when I clean him up he just tries to lick the paper towel.
• He doesn't like when doctors come near me. I had to get my blood pressure taken today and when they put the cuff around my arm he started whining and saying "mommy, mommy". It was kind of cute that he was worried for me haha
• He watches golf with Nick and sometimes says "fo!" His grandpa Paul taught him to say four and swing a golf club to a ball. Yay. Another golfer in the family...
• He loves to find balls and say "ball! kick kick!" And then kicks them

So I think that's mostly everything...sorry it's kind of long but it's been a while and I want to remember these things. The other day I was talking to Caitlyn and Koen did something funny and I told Caitlyn and we both said that I needed to write it down, and later that day I couldn't remember what it was for the life of me. Now that I think about it, it might have been the fart thing...Hopefully.

So now I will complain about where I live. Haha! Just kidding, sort of. So we live in Utah now, and you would think it wouldn't be so bad, right? Well it is. The people here have all of their family around them so they don't bother even trying to make friends in the ward. We've been here since April and we have made ZERO friends. The relief society president hasn't said one single word to me since my first Sunday. Our neighbors are somewhat lame (Mike and Camille please move back here so we can be neighbors again). Once Nick was playing with Koen and the lady below us freaked out and pounded on our floor. Since this wasn't the first time to happen, I went down to ask her why on earth she was pounding on our floor at 4:30 in the afternoon (hello? Not even late) and she replied to me that it sounded like we had a herd of effing elephants in our apartment. I told her I had a year and a half old kid and he was playing with his dad. She told me to control my kid. HA! She doesn't have kids. But I went to the managers and filled a complaint form out. The next day there was an apology letter stuck to our door. She said she was sorry and embarrassed and wouldn't bother us about it again because she doesn't want to get in the way of our kid having a childhood. Funny thing about all of this? She's in our ward. Yup. Happy friendly people out here. It really hasn't been all bad though. I live sort of closish to Caitlyn, not that I see her ever haha. But when Nick goes out of town for business (man he's so grown up) I can go and stay with them. And there are some friendly people in our ward. I just am too lazy/shy (yes, I said that) to talk to people I don't know so I wait for them to come to me. It's a wonder I ever made friends haha. Sorry. I'm really not complaining. I know I would enjoy Utah more if I got out there and made friends. Nick and I are looking into some townhouses that are just down the street from us. That's where all the friendly people in our ward live. But we'll see.

I guess just to prolong this post I can write about my pregnancy. Yay! So we found out back in May, had the first ultrasound June 28, heard the heart beat today (July 26). Also, this pregnancy has been slightly more difficult than when I was pregnant with Koen. I know, I know. Not all pregnancies can be perfect like with Koen. This time I have had just a little bit of nausea, but no puking thank goodness. I have been really unmotivated lately. I feel bad for Koen because we don't go outside very often because I'm always tired and not up to chasing him around. I already have heart burn. I already feel like I'm showing. Also, the last 2 weeks I have been having a hard time eating. I'll get really hungry and then eat, but then I start eating and after 2 or 3 bites I can't eat any more. As a result of this, I dropped 4 pounds (oops). So the doctor told me if I drop any lower I need to go back in. She told me to have lots of Jamba Juice. Yeah! I love Jamba! Good bye money. Hello delicious smoothies!! One bright spot in this so far. We find out what we're having 6 weeks from tomorrow. Nick really wants a girl. When I told him I was pregnant he was like, "Well, it better be a girl this time." He's very excited for either. I don't really care what we have as long as it's healthy. A girl would be nice though. I see little girls clothes and hair things and it makes me want one super bad. But if we have another little boy I will be excited because Koen will have a little brother, and I won't have to buy new clothes.

Okay, so that's my life. Now I'm going to go and try and figure out Koen's halloween costume. Also, sorry there's no pictures. Look on facebook.

Almost done!

Alright so I am awesome at posting on this. I actually completely forgot about it. Anyway. Here is what Nick, Koen and I have been up to:

I graduated in December! Woo! Now to think of something to do with my degree...

Nick is graduating in a few weeks with his BS in Mechanical Engineering. Dental school is up in the air for now. Nick got a job for AutoLiv in Ogden, so off we go to Utah...yay...I swore to myself I would never live there and here we go! But honestly, this job that Nick got is an INCREDIBLE opportunity for us. We'll still be close to Nick's family and now we'll be a little bit closer to Caitlyn. I think this will make the move easier for us because we aren't going somewhere completely random (like almost moving to North Carolina for a job with Honda). Also, the Church is still everywhere out where we'll be so at least I know we won't be the only members for miles around.

Koen is walking and talking now. He can say: ba (ball), uh oh, dutduh (thank you), beas (please), no (not to sure how I feel about him learning this word...), ma (mom), dada (dad), whoops, ju (juice), he signs milk and all done...there's more, but I'm too tired to think now. So funny story about Koen's new words. I was at church yesterday trying to give him his drink, he looks at it, shoves it away while saying NO very loudly. It was the first time he actually said no in the context that it was supposed to be used in. Usually he just repeats it when I say it to him. Like when he's climbing on the couch or touching things he's not supposed to, I'll say Koen no no. Then he laughs and goes no no no no. He's a funny kid.

Tomorrow is my last day of work. I don't really know how I feel about that yet. On the one side I am so excited because I thought this day would never come, but at the same time I'm sad because that was how I got out of the house and had conversations with other adults.

I've noticed that God kind of plans things out for us and just lets things fall into place. I know this is a super random tangent but I was just thinking about this. He must have known (obviously) that Nick would need help getting a job, so he sent him to Japan on his mission. Honestly, if Nick didn't serve there, I don't know if he would have a job lined up at all. We are so blessed to be given this chance, so I hope that it works out. Also with this job, if Nick decides to stick with it, we might have a chance to go live in Japan for a year. Nick would love this. I would be okay with it, but I told Nick if we do, then no more than a year. Haha I can just picture Koen's little blonde head in nursery or primary or wherever he is with all the other dark haired asian children. It's a funny picture in my head.

So to wrap up what has been going on, I graduated, Nick is graduating soon, we are moving to Ogden in about 2.5 weeks, and Koen is doing what he should, getting into trouble and learning new things.

I would post pictures but I'm about 2.5 seconds away from chucking my computer at a wall right now because it's going so slow...so maybe another time.

Koen is one!

So I know his birthday was two weeks ago, but I still need to write about it. I cannot believe that my baby boy has turned one! On November 2, 2010 I went to visit the doctor because of the pain. I expected them to tell me that it was nothing and that I should go home. Instead, I found out that I was pretty much in labor. So, Nick and
I went to the hospital and a few hours later, we had a little baby boy. When he was born, he was 6 lbs 9 oz, 2
0.5 inches long with the darkest hair. He was little and wrinkly, and he was mine. Now, here we are a year later, he is 17.1 pounds and 29 inches long. He is still a little guy, but oh how he has changed in that year. Here is what he can do now: He pulls himself up on EVERYTHING. He drinks whole milk now. He can stand up on his own for a few seconds. Yesterday, he took some steps, but I think it was a fluke. He has his 2 bottom teeth, with 4 coming in on top. He knows what he wants and he will let you know if you are not giving it to him. He likes fishsticks (yuck!). Even if
we have just fed him, when we start eating, there he is, demanding that you share your food with him. He likes most food, especially if it is something that Nick or I is eating. If he is done eating, he will put it in his mouth, chew, then pull it out and throw it.

For his actual birthday, we had our neighbors over and had a little party for Koen. Mostly, he got practical stuff, a coat, jacket, cups, plates, forks...We got him

some toys too. Mike and Camille got him a spiderman ball pit. He loves it.

We tried to give him a cupcake, but it didn't work out so well.

I think that is everything that is going on with Koen for now. Oh.

We gave him a haircut today! First one! It makes him look like a big boy, I don't know how I feel about that.

Nick and I are still in school. I am graduating in about 5 weeks!! It's so crazy because I don't feel like I should be done. Nick will be done in April. He is trying to figure out what he wants to go to school for after he graduates. He is still leaning towards dental school though. I am so excited to be taking a year off. Hopefully he can find a job with his degree. Crazy thing though, we don't have a clue where we will be in 6 months. Kind of scary.

So. That is what is going on with us right now. Here is a last minute thought. Sort of. This is what Koen started out looking like and what he looks like now.

Goings on

So here is what is going on in our lives right now:

• School just started, it is my LAST one and Nick's second to last one so we are finally towards the end of our stay in Rexburg!!
• Koen has had a fever the last few days so I finally took him to the doctor today and found out that he is getting not just two, but FOUR teeth in right now. And to top that all off, he has a sinus infection. The last few days have been really hard on all of us, but this is the most snuggly he's been in a long time, so we have sort of enjoyed it.
• Nick quit his job (not ideal but with his school schedule, he honestly couldn't work).
• I still work at Subway (also not ideal).
• I am trying to convince Nick to attempt to get a job using his degree in the year that he will be taking off of school.
• We are looking at moving to Boise.
• Koen is all over the place now and moves everywhere super fast.
• Koen is about ten and a half months old now.
• I am not excited for this semester because I hardly get to see my husband EVER.

So really that's about it. Our lives aren't too exciting right now so that's why I hardly ever update. Sorry everyone. Not an exciting blog. Well, I guess I could write about what we've done recently because I guess we've done some stuff.

So we went to Utah about two weeks ago because mom and dad came out to visit (finally). It was way fun. Crowded, but fun. Then we went to visit Nick's family because they were down there because Kellie just had her baby. Koen has a friend now!! Anyways, they blessed him that Sunday and then pretty much left straight for AZ, so we helped them clean and pack up and whatnot. While the men were moving a couch up the stairs, they got stuck, something happened, the couch leg went through the glass part of the door, and glass shards dropped into my father in law's arm and he had to go to the hospital and get stitches. According to him however, it was nothing and he just wanted a band aid put on it. But Kellie and Robin made him go, good thing too because he needed another shot. So basically that is all that happened down in Utah, and some other stuff but since it's mainly family that reads this you all know what happened there because you were all there.

Also, mom, Nick opened those pickles and he says they are delicious. He says thank you and he is very happy about his pickles. I, on the other hand, do not like pickle breath. That's okay though, it's not as bad as store bought pickles.