Wow! All I can say is, I have definitely earned this award! I am the worst blogger…but I have some really good reasons. First being. it is the biggest pain to resize and up load pictures (Waaahh!). Second, I have no time, especially now with Addy. Plus all my “free” time I either clean, sleep or cook (which I am sure Matt appreciates much more, minus the sleeping part!) Third, well there really isn’t a third. All I can say is that I really need to change my ways, so one of my goals for this new year is to update our blog at least once a month; especially since we live so far from family and friends. With that being said you can anticipate a new post in the days to come (fingers crossed!)

Love you all!

Another major item needed before our little one arrives, is a crib. It has been a journey to find a place in Texas that actually has cute cribs…I can definitely say that I miss Utah for the furniture! Well I have recently discovered a great store here in Round Rock and I love it. They have great cribs and are a good price. Now the hard part is deciding which one to get. I have narrowed it down to four choices. I think they are all great. I plan to use this crib for all my many children…ok maybe for just a few more kids. So I want it to be one that will last and still be cute in the future. Let me know which one you like the best!

In May I got to go to Europe with the Interior Design Department and it was amazing! Thanks to my Dad for paying most of my way and to Matt for paying the rest! It was an experience I will never forget! Here are some of the highlights (there is way too much to write, you would probably get bored)

• We traveled Europe for 16 days seeing: Venice, Sienna, Florence, Rome, Sicily, Athens, Crete, and Turkey.
• Got to eat a lot of gelato…new favorite flavor has to be pistachio, who would have thought!
• Got to eat a lot of Italian pastries…I can’t even tell you what they were called, but they were so good!
• Endless yummy food from pizza, pasta and pastries to endless cruise buffet!
• Amazing monuments, statues, and architecture. We got to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi fountain, Acropolis and Parthenon, The Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Spanish Steps, Statue of David, numerous cathedrals, ancient cities and ruins and much much more!
• We got to taste some interesting foods; I tried escargot, hot Turkish apple cider and Turkish kebabs (probably what made me attract a virus, but they were so yummy)
• Got to go on a cruise for the first time! First day was very rocky! We shared a tiny room with four girls…not the ideal situation to say the least, but we made it!
• Our hotel rooms in Italy were interesting. The bathrooms were tiny, the beds were uncomfortable and all together the rooms were a little on the creepy side.
• We got to shop the streets in Rome, Greece and Turkey. Turkey was the craziest place I have been to shop, they definitely know how to get your attention and get you into the store. Best part is a lot of them knew Utah because of Memet Okur, they would say Utah Jazz! So funny.
• Got to meet some amazing new friends! I was sad for a minute I was done with school, but that quickly changed once I got home!
• Got to see a glass blowing demonstration…it was amazing! I can’t even tell you in words. It is a crazy skill that takes years to master. The glass master made a glass horse it literally 30 seconds!
• Got to see a Turkish rug being hand-made. Another amazing skill…they memorize the rug pattern and tie millions of knots. Some rugs have 900 knots per square inch! I wanted to buy one so bad! The rugs take months sometimes a year to make.
• Learned a little bit of Italian

I am sure there is so much I am missing but that is a good glimpse of my study abroad to Italy, Greece and Turkey! I definitely want to go back someday, hopefully with Matt, if he wants to go! Italy is amazing and so pretty. Walking through Venice the first few days, I kept thinking I was on a movie set. Seeing so many things I have studied since high school in actual reality is such an amazing experience. You study things from a book and picture them so different. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is in the middle of a neighborhood and the Colosseum is right outside the subway station. It is so different in all these places then anything in America. It is crazy to think how ancient most of these things are and how they are still standing and how intricate they are. I had an amazing time but I must say it’s good to be back in the states!

I am now in my third trimester!

I can’t believe it, it has seriously flown by. Now it’s just a short waiting game until our little girl arrives, around 11 weeks to go!! It makes me nervous to think of everything I haven’t done or got but we will survive, we always do.

Here are some pictures from when it all began:

Wow! So much has happened the last few months! I don’t even know where to begin…

First of all, I graduated college, yes I know what you are all thinking, its about time! I just finished my summer classes and passed them all so it’s OFFICIAL my diploma should be arriving shortly! I decided to a dual major and I will have two bachelor’s degrees; Interior Design and Technical Sales. I couldn’t be more excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel; it’s been a very long journey. Getting through school sure had its ups and downs but it’s so nice to be done! I am not quite sure what I will be doing with my major yet, but I do hope to work as a professional interior designer one day. For now, I will be happy to give advice and do things on the side. Who knows one day I may go back to school so that I can teach interior design in high school. We will see though! I am just glad to be done at this moment!

It’s official I am a quarter of a century! It is hard to swallow! I feel old Despite that, I had a great birthday! Matt spoiled me rotten. It started out with my opening my surprise birthday present. I had no idea he got me anything, he is a good secret keeper. He actually had my mom in on it and she helped with the surprise while she was here. I got a new tiffany necklace. It is so perfect and so cute. It is two circles interlocked, couldn’t be more perfect! After that we got lunch and headed towards San Antonio. Like always, we stopped at the outlets and I bought a few shirts and a new skirt. We then made it to San Antonio and walked around a few more stores then went to dinner at PF Chang’s…Delicious! After we headed off to Wicked, we love Wicked and it was a great show and a great ending to my birthday!

My birthday could not have been more perfect! Happy Birthday to me! I am 25!!

My New Necklace!

My mama and my uncle John came to visit us in Austin a few weekends ago. It was a short trip and kind of a whirlwind but it was so nice to have visitors. They also came to run in the Austin Half Marathon. It wasn’t an easy run like you would think. Despite what people say about Austin, it is not a flat city, it is pretty hilly! We went and saw them at the finish line, like we always do! And we had many other adventures in the 48 hours they were here! We explored lots of Austin, spent a lot of time in the car and in traffic, went on a hike, ate some great food, and of course went shopping! We love visitors and can’t wait for more people to come visit us!

Eating my birhtday dinner at the County Line BBQ

Mom and John after the run! They did an amazing job!

On top of Mt. Bonnell Hike, which really isn't a hike, but probably the highest point in Austin, beautiful views!

We have visited San Antonio a few times since we have moved down. It’s a short drive and the best part is there is a huge outlet on our way down, so we always have to stop to shop! The day I officially moved down, Matt surprised me with tickets to Legally Blonde the Musical. We went down and saw the San Antonio Temple, walked around the Riverwalk and saw the famous Alamo. It was a fun short trip to say the least!

Us on the Riverwalk

The Alamo

But what did Matt find inside the Alamo, that's right...Matt found Pee Wee's missing bike! It really was in the basement of the Alamo

We are finally settling into our new home of Round Rock, Texas! We have explored lots of Texas thus far and have enjoyed it thus far! The weather is so nice! It has been around the 80′s lately but already humid. We had a little snow a few weeks ago and it shut down the town. It was quite comical. We are loving it but we are definitely missing Utah and all our friends and family!

This is our apartment we live in. Top floor on the left but on the opposite side!

This is where Matt works!

This is the train the passes right outside our house. It shakes the house quite a bit but we don't mind it!

Here is the snow storm that shut the town down.

Here's the Round Rock Mountain...there are so many water towers. So different then our beautiful mountains in Utah!

We decided it would be fun to visit our friend Dan in Monterey, California. We went with our friends Jeff and Jen Ebert. We had a fun road trip. We left Thursday afternoon for Reno, Nevada. None of us had been there before and we had our assumptions about the place but little did we know it was actually quite nice! It was clean and fun for the few hours we were there. We arrived late that night and actually got a good deal on one of the nicest hotels. It was lit up green. Later, we walked to the famous sign “RENO…the biggest little city in the world.” That night was quite an adventure, Jeff was on the verge of dying! He did something wrong with his insulin and he kept dropping. Matt was scared for his life. Him and Jen went to the car and loaded him up with sugar. They came back to the room and everything was fine.

The next day we started off our journey with some delicious pastries for breakfast. Then we were back in the car and off to Monterey. It was a pretty drive through Lake Tahoe and through most of California. We only got stuck in the dreadful California traffic once, so we thought we were pretty lucky. We finally got to Dan’s place around 4:00 and to our surprise…it was freezing! We unpacked and headed to dinner at a little Italian place up the street. I got some cheese ravioli and Matt got a meatball pizza. Later we drove the mile from his house to the beach. It was pretty and we got to see the sunset. Still freezing, and all we packed was shorts, we went to Target to buy me a pair of capris. Once we got back to Dan’s we were pretty tired and we all watched a movie.

The next day we decided we would head to the Monetery Pier. For breakfast we went to a crepe place, Matt got a chocolate and banana crepe. It was pretty good. Jeff was not happy with the crepe place, they took cash only and Jeff thought that this was absurd.  He  I got some frozen yogurt. We wanted to see the Aquarium but it was pricey so we walked down to the end of the Pier and watched the sea lions. Later we got some lunch and headed out. We wanted to drive the 17-mile drive so we headed off to that. We were expecting a little more then what it was. Honestly, it was just a bunch of golf courses, some fancy homes, and the beach. We stopped at one of the miles to see the giant rocks on the beach.

We continued to drive down 17-mile drive until we hit the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course, we stopped and Matt, Dan and Jeff walked and put their foot on the golf course. That night we drove to Santa Cruz. They have a fun amusement park on the beach boardwalk. We went on rides, played games and ate some greasy food.

The next morning, we drove up to San Francisco. Matt and I drove up with Dan in his truck…and you know Matt, he still has a little ADD in him. He put on Dan’s helmet and took some pictures of himself. It was a little under a 2-hour drive. Once we got there we all got to experience the homeless bums of San Fran they are pretty entertaining. We bought Wicked tickets again and saw the 2:00 show. After the show we wanted to head down the the pier and the bay to see the fireworks show that night. It took us over an hour to find a parking spot. We walked to Ghiradelli Square and  went to the best cupcake store and bought some cupcakes. We went to dinner at this BBQ spot and it was delicious. We got a brisket and pork sandwich and Dan, Jeff and Jen got the triple threat with 3 meats and tons of sides. It was a good meal. We still had about an hour until the fireworks so we went and watched the band that was playing. Finally, the fireworks started, it was a fun show with smiley face and heart shaped fireworks. We then headed up the hills to our cars and said our goodbyes to Dan and drove to Roseville in a dumpy hotel to spend the night. The next morning we woke up bright and early and drove back home. All and all it was a fun little getaway we had. Lots and lots of driving but still a fun time. We were glad we got to see Dan and hang out with Jeff and Jen.