A Slice of Our Life

Just a little busy :)

2010-11-19T10:22:00.005-05:00

We've been pretty busy trying to keep up with two girls! We're still working on a schedule and I am looking forward things calming down a little bit. Koryn LOVES being a big sister. She always wants Karter to be awake and laying on the floor next to her while she plays. She loves giving her hugs and kisses and will tell anybody that will listen that Karter is her sister. The cutest part is that Karter's nickname is "Karter babe" and Koryn always calls her by her nickname. I think she's only said "Karter" a handful of time. Too cute!

We just had Koryn's 2 year-old and Karter's 2 month check ups. Both girls are doing well and growing so fast! They are both 50th percentile for weight, 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for their head. At least we're consistent, right? haha!

I haven't had much time for picture uploads so these links are outdated, but here's some links to pictures taken shortly after Karter's birth.

Click here for pictures of what we've been up to.

Click here and here for some newborn photos I took (The hospital ones are too expensive!)

I know I'm behind on photos and I have a TON to upload (including family photos we took a few weeks ago!), but hopefully I'll get around to those soon. Maybe someday when my girls decide it's okay to nap at the same time :P

Karter Peyton

2010-09-14T15:37:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to let everybody know that Karter Peyton was born last friday (9/10)! We are home now and trying to get into a routine with two girls. Things have been crazy, but great.

Birth story

I woke up Friday morning at 7:30 in pain, but I didn't think I was having contractions because they felt nothing like the contractions I had with Koryn. After about 20 minutes of pain I convinced Justin I would be okay and told him to go to work so he wouldn't be late for his meeting. However, once I started timing how often I was in pain I noticed it was happening ever 3-4 minutes (this was about 30 minutes after the pain started). I called Justin and told him to come home. Luckily he was still driving and wasn't too far away. I finished packing up last minute things and called our friends that were going to watch Koryn for us. As soon as Justin was home we left for the hospital (about 8:30 AM). We got to the hospital and met our friends at the door to hand off Koryn. They volunteered to move our car and transfer everything so we took off inside. We went straight to the maternity floor and they put me directly in a room. As soon as they could, they checked me and I was already at 9 cm! I was only 3-4 at my dr. appt 3 days earlier. About 1 minute later my water broke and about 5 minutes later Karter was born. The nurses didn't even have time to put an IV in. I wasn't planning on ever giving birth without pain meds, but when does labor ever go as planned? Karter was born at 8:55 (15 minutes after getting to the hospital), weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz and was 20.5 inches long. I can't believe how fast everything happened! Luckily our friends moved the car for us or Justin would have missed it all! Our friends that were watching Koryn couldn't believe that in the time it took to move the cars, get Koryn's bag and come back upstairs, Karter was born. I guess she was in a hurry :) Everything is going well and Koryn is loving her little sister.

I'll post more pictures once they're on my computer and I can sort through them.

Picture Update

2010-08-21T12:24:00.016-04:00

Here's a big picture update of our many adventures over the last few months :)

These first 2 are older pictures, but cute nonetheless

First day of nursery

Up close of her hair. We put it in foam rollers overnight.

Baby Update

28 weeks

32 weeks

Charleston, SC trip

Playing in a fountain at Waterfront Park

Walking down the pier with Dad at the Waterfront Park

Touching a snake during our visit to the aquarium. She's not scared of anything!

We thought we'd be adventurous and give her some calamari. I thought she'd make a face and immediately spit it out, but she loved it! I think she alone ate half the plate of calamari!

Children's museum in Charleston

The little kid grocery store was her favorite part!

Drawing a picture in the arts & crafts room at the children's museum

Drawing on the water wall with Dad at the children's museum.

While we were in Charleston, we were able to spend a little time at the beach.

One of the few pictures of Koryn and I from the trip.

In July my sister Kaylee was married and we were able to go down to Houston for a week.

Koryn in her flower girl dress

Nice shades!

Unfortunately, picture time was extremely hot and during her usual nap time. She was a little uncooperative and we saw this face more than a few times. haha!

Playing tag with cousin DeVon at Kaylee's reception

I'm not sure what she was looking at, but it's a cute picture :)

Enjoying ice cream after our tour of the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. The best ice cream ever!

Koryn was introduced to Spongebob (thanks to DeVon) while we were in Houston and enjoyed watching cartoons with her cousin. Thankfully she has not asked for it since we got back.

We also had lots of time to play while in Houston. Koryn enjoyed playing with DeVon and "pa-pa." Notice the toys? It was pretty cool to see Koryn playing with toys that I enjoyed when I was little.

She also convinced "pa-pa" to read her lots of books. She is such a bookworm and loves having books read to her.

We were also able to enjoy some evening swim time while in Houston. Here's Koryn swimming with uncle Reed.

Since it's been extremely hot here recently we've been finding things to do inside. Here's Koryn playing in her fort with Dad. She wasn't too happy when we had to take it down.

Some of our close friends moved to Nebraska recently. Koryn still asks about their 3 girls. Here's her having fun with 2 of the girls shortly before they moved.

Koryn is growing up so fast and I can't believe that she looks like such a big girl now! Her hair is getting so long and I'm amazed it's already long enough to do this...

Here's a couple of cute and funny pictures that show how long her hair really is :)

As you can see we've been busy and we're having tons of fun. Now we're preparing for the arrival of Karter and getting everything ready for her. Koryn is so excited about baby Karter and likes to give my stomach hugs and kisses. I can't wait to see the two of them together.

Belly Pics

2010-06-20T16:23:00.003-04:00

Since a few people have been asking, here are my belly pics so far.

8 Weeks

12 Weeks

16 Weeks

20 Weeks

26 Weeks

Charleston Trip - Day 2

2010-05-25T20:18:00.002-04:00

So, our adventure continued today. We got an early start and headed to the South Carolina aquarium. We saw otters, eagles, penguins, fish, turtles and such. Koryn loved the animals. Her favorite was a group of fish that would "kiss" her hand when she put it up to the glass. She also liked the turtles.

After the aquarium, we went to lunch. Koryn fell asleep in the on the way to the restaurant. I couldn't figure out how she could sleep while going over some of the bumpiest terrain and loudest road noise possible along the way.

Later, we went on a tour of Ft. Sumter. We took a ferry across the bay and when we got there we had a great time learning about the fort and the history of the area.

We went swimming this evening and out for dinner. It's been a great day. Still two more to go.

Charleston Trip - Day 1

2010-05-24T21:04:00.002-04:00

Hello to all of our faithful readers. There's a new sheriff in town, that is to say, for the first time ever you will be able to experience the lyrically intense typing of Kitara's better half, Justin. For years, the blogging rights in our home were monopolized by my lovely and talented wife, after a chaotic power struggle for equality, I have snuck into her account to post this revolutionary and perhaps life changing entry.

Ok, so this is exactly what Kitara was worried about if I were to post, enough with the drama, let's get to the good stuff.

So, today we embarked on our four-day trip to Charleston, SC. We had heard a ton about this destination from friends and co-workers so we wanted to check out what all of the fuss was about. We got up early, packed up the van, dropped Roxy off at the sitters and were on our way. On the way down, I got to experience my first road trip in the minivan. We've had it now for about a year, but I had never driven it further than about an hour. Let's just say, road trips with an 18-month old are...interesting. First they want something to eat, then they throw it on the floor, then they're tired, but can't sleep, then they finally fall asleep, then you hit a bump on the road and they wake up. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I suppose it wasn't that bad, but it could have been better.

We made it into Charleston around 1 pm and it was raining off and on. The children's museum wasn't open on Monday so we went to a visitor's center to see what we could do instead. We got sucked into one of those "low pressure" timeshare sales things with the lure of a bunch of free tickets. Now, for any of you that haven't done one of these before, I can't say that I recommend it, they kind of suck and no matter how you rig it, you don't really leave feeling good about the situation. They talk you up about all the benefits to your family and what a great offer it is to pay them 20-30k at 15% APR and how you should feel like a monster who doesn't love his family if you don't pay out the nose for a luxury vacation package. Then, when you try to reason with them about not wanting to incur unnecessary debt or not having $500/month in the budget for travel, they look for any possible way to sell you on the product. Finally, after I had met the time commitment to get my free stuff, I let them know that there was no way that I was going to buy it, I was tired, hungry and wanted my free stuff. After repeating my requests and reiterating that I was under no circumstances going to buy their program they eventually brought us our stuff. So, in short, I don't recommend these things unless you're patient and ready to stand strong against the buffeting that inevitably accompanies such a session. On the plus side, we did end up walking away with carriage ride tickets, a tour to Ft. Sumter, and aquarium tickets so all in all, a pretty good afternoon.

So after that, we decided to grab something to eat. We went to a place called Hyman's. It is apparently some really famous seafood place where a bunch of celebrities have come and is ranked on the Food Network's something or other list of places to eat if you're really hungry and yada yada yada. Anyway, we had a great meal and both Kitara and Koryn tried calamari for the first time. Surprisingly, Kitara thought it was pretty good and Koryn devoured almost half of my appetizer! Kitara would cut up a ring and before she was done, Koryn would have scarfed the whole thing up and be asking for more! It was pretty cool. I guess I've done something right as a Dad. Better watch out future boyfriends, my daughter will stick it to you when it comes to paying for a nice meal.

Well, that's all for day 1 on our super awesome family vacation.

The big news

2010-05-04T16:43:00.004-04:00

So we'll have to wait a little longer to use this, but.....

think the baby will fit into this?

That's right! We're having another girl! I'm so excited to have 2 girls next to each other and so close in age. Everything is going well and the baby is growing great!

Quick Baby Update

2010-04-07T14:53:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update on the new baby. I just had my 16 week appointment and everything is going well! We talk about the new baby with Koryn, but obviously she doesn't comprehend what we're saying. It will be interesting to see how her understanding progresses along with the pregnancy. We find out what we're having on May 4! I can't believe I'm almost halfway done! I've added a poll on the right, so vote and let us know if you think it's a boy or girl. For those that are into wives tales, here's some info about the pregnancy.

12 week heart rate = 158
16 week heart rate = 140
This pregnancy has been very similar to when I was pregnant with Koryn, but the tiredness has lasted longer.

Coming Soon

2010-03-07T15:37:00.002-05:00

It's true! Another baby Beasley will be here September 24, 2010. Hopefully it's as cute as the one above :)

Snow Day

2010-02-02T14:45:00.011-05:00

Friday night we got a few inches of snow and took Koryn out to play Saturday morning. She didn't really like walking in the snow on the grass, but loved walking in the snow on the street. Here's some pictures to enjoy!

Sledding

I love this picture!

She LOVED our homemade sled and wanted to stay outside forever. Justin and I were ready to come in before she was. The rest of the day she would look out the window and try to get us to take her back out. Here's some video of her sledding down our driveway.

Our attempt at making a snow angel with Koryn. She didn't really like laying in the snow so it didn't turn out too well, but it's still cute!

Long Overdue

2009-11-06T15:02:00.028-05:00

In July Koryn and I headed to Coeur d' Alene, ID for a reunion with my mom's side of the family. It was very different traveling with Koryn by myself this time. We spent almost an entire day on planes to get there. That was interesting to say the least :) Once we arrived we had a very busy, but fun week.

Here's all the siblings together.

We were able to get together with most of the aunts, uncles and cousins

My mom enjoyed being able to spen a week with both of her grandbabies.

Koryn really enjoyed getting to see her cousin for the first time. They had a great time together!

We spent a day playing at the beach at Lake Coeur d' Alene. Koryn wasn't too fond of the pebble sand, but enjoyed the water.

We spent another day at Silverwood (local amusement park) and had pictures taken of the babies. How cute is this!?

Koryn is getting bigger everyday. She now pulls up on everything and can walk if we hold her hands. As of this last weekend, she now has 11 teeth! She decided she would get all 4 1-year old molars in the same day. The funny thing was I had no idea she was teething until she bit my finger and I felt the teeth. haha! She also just turned 1 (pictures to come this weekend). We took a trip down to Myrtle Beach, SC for a few days the week before her birthday. It was way to short and so much fun.

We spent some time walking around the outlet mall and the outdoor mall called "Broadway at the Beach" One of Koryn's favorite things to do was to feed the fish. I was afraid she would try to eat the fish food, but she picked up pretty quickly how to pick up the food and drop it in the water. She would pick the food up 1 piece at a time and then hang her arm over the edge and open her hand or twist her fingers until it fell out. It was so cute to watch!

We spent 1/2 a day down at the beach. We would have like to have stayed longer, but it was getting pretty windy. Koryn didn't seem to mind though and started crying when she realized we were leaving.

Dad built a sandcastle and Koryn helped destroy it.

She also loved walking on the beach and would watch the waves as they came up and went over her feet.

We also visited the Ripley's Aquarium. Koryn loves anything to do with animals and this was no exception. She loved it!

She thought this touch tank for the stingrays was pretty cool.

She LOVED this touch tank. As much as she loves animals, she loves water even more.

She splashed so much that she scared all the horseshoe crabs away from her area. haha! When Justin decided she was done splashing both him and Koryn were pretty wet!

So cute!

This one is a little blurry, but one of my favorite pictures from the aquarium.

We took Koryn to a pumkin patch this year. She was not too sure about it at first, but once she saw Justin and I touching the pumpkins she was fine with it.

Here's just a preview, but to see the rest of the pictures click here.

We also took pictures of Koryn in her Halloween costume. She was the cutest fairy princess if you ask me. :) Again, click here to see the rest.

Due to bad weather, Koryn's only trick-or-treating this year was at the mall. We met up with a family from church. It was crowded and crazy, but we had a great time!

Enjoy until next time!

April/May

2009-05-31T19:49:00.046-04:00

This is going to be a post with lots of pictures.

Justin and I dyed Easter eggs for Koryn :) Here she is with the eggs I made for her.

Here's Koryn in her adorable Easter dress!

My mom made each of us our own Easter baskets and I always loved getting it out each year and looking at it. I decided I to do this with my kids so I made Koryn a basket this year. Here's her basket with all of her goodies.

It turned out so cute and I love it! Here's a close up of the flower on the front.

Here's a picture of the little flower that is on each side.

Here's Justin's basket with all of his goodies. I made this basket for him our first Easter together.

We got our sod put in. Here's the front yard

We also finally got our fence put up. Here's Justin helping put up the cross bars.

Here's all of the planks up. We cut the top of the fence in a rainbow pattern, but I haven't taken a picture of that yet. I'll get one once we get the fence stained.

Here's a picture of the copper tops that we put on all the posts. You can get an idea of what the rainbow pattern looks like.

While the guys worked on the fence I took Koryn out to try out swimming. How cute is this swimsuit?

We got Koryn her very own tiny swimming pool. It was basically like a bath :)

We started Koryn on solid foods about 1 month ago. She loves rice cereal, oatmeal, peas, pears, bananas and apples. I thought we get some funny faces out of her, but we didn't get a single one! She loves it all!

Koryn is such a ham in front of the camera! How's this for a cute picture?

Justin was brave enough to do a Mother's Day project with Koryn involving paint. Here's some pictures of the process.

She looks so cute and I loved my artwork!

We also celebrated Justin's birthday. We had a football themed surprise party. Our friends the Allens and the Cooks came to celebrate.

Here's the cake. Yummy!

We also did a pinata. This was partly for Justin's entertainment, but also for our friends' daughters.

Sadly, we STILL have candy from the pinata and it's already been 2 weeks!

Justin and I also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Has it really been 5 years? We got a babysitter for Koryn (her 2nd ever!) and she did so well! We went out to dinner at the Melting Pot. It was sooooo good!

For Memorial Day we got together with some friends for a BBQ. Too bad it kinda rained that day. Oh well, it was still fun. Here's Koryn all decked out in red, white and blue.

The other day Justin went to change Koryn's diaper and she came back looking like this.

Is it really that hard to dress a kid the right way? haha!

She loves to watch Baby Einstein movies. I usually get some from the library, but I haven't gone lately so we just watch the short clips on YouTube. Look at how happy she is! She was laughing at some animals that were on the screen right before I took the picture.

She loves tummy time and she just started working on getting up on her knees. She doesn't stay up too long so it's hard to get a picture. This is the best one I've gotten so far.

Her other new trick is to scoot backwards. She usually finds herself in situations like this.

She'll go backwards and turn at the same time and somehow always manages to get under the couches or stuck against the leg of the coffee table. I have a feeling it won't be too long before she's crawling. Where has my baby gone?

This is how she fell asleep the other night.

Is that not too cute!?

These are just some cute pictures I've taken lately.

Here's a video of her waving. It's so cute! She's kinda starting to figure it out.

Click To Play

You HAVE to watch this one. It's adorable! She has the cutest laugh! (Not that I'm biased or anything) :)

Click To Play

When Dad's In Charge

2009-04-09T14:17:00.010-04:00

I know it's only been a week, so why am I updating? Because I have more cute pictures of course!

I can't believe that my little girl is 5 months old already! She's getting so big!

She is starting to roll from front to back more often and is getting so close to rolling from her back to her front. She usually gets stuck in this position though.

She fell asleep in her bouncer again. Too cute!

She loves holding things while she sleeps. From stuffed animals in her crib, toys in her carseat, and now the beads on her bouncer.

You may have noticed in the picture above that she was sleeping in quite a weird position. I was wondering where her other hand was and I discovered this.

Haha! How can that be comfortable?

Now for the point of the title of this post. Over the weekend I let Justin feed Koryn her rice cereal. I think these pictures explain everything. :)

Don't I look cute?

Wiping the cereal all over!

Looking at Dad (the person responsible for this cute mess!)

February/March

2009-04-02T13:58:00.050-04:00

February and March have been so busy! I haven't had time to post about our many adventures! February 14th we left to go visit Justin's family. As always, Koryn was an angel on the plane. How cute is this picture!

This was probably the 2nd time ever that she found her thumb. It didn't last too long, but I happened to catch a picture of it.

The first leg of our flight was pretty empty, so we were able to spread out. Here's how Koryn spent most of the flight.

While in Oregon we were able to visit most of the family. Here's a picture of us with Grandma and Grandpa Bell and Aunt Tess from Justin's Mom's family.

We also had a little down time :)

The next day, Aunt Barb and cousins Wyatt and Wade came to visit. Here's Koryn with Aunt Barb.

Here's the crazy cousins!

While in Oregon we were also able to go visit the Waterfront Park and Carousel. I was excited to take Koryn on her first carousel ride. She loved it! We rode on a stationary horse, but she was totally amazed watching the horses in front of her move up and down.

After riding the carousel we went out to eat and Koryn got to spend a little time with Grandpa.

Our week was so busy, but we were able to squeeze in some family pictures. Justin's dad is an amazing photographer and I was so excited to get some pictures taken. Here are a few of my favorites.

Koryn also got to spend some time with Grandma Eva. Here is one of the few good pictures I got.

Most of Grandma Eva's pictures look like this. Where's Grandma? haha!

While in Oregon I was so excited to get Koryn ears pierced! I know there's a lot of debate about getting a baby's ears pierced so think what you want, but I love it! Here's a picture right before. She looks worried, but she was intently watching the lady prepare the earrings.

Here's a picture right after. The screaming didn't last too long. I gave her a bottle right after this picture and she stopped crying.

Don't they look so cute?

We also got to see cousin Haylee!

One last picture with Grandma and Grandpa Beasley.

We had a very busy, but amazing week in Oregon. I love being in North Carolina, but I wish we lived closer to both sides of the family.

Right before going to Oregon, Koryn (at almost 4 months old) finally outgrew her newborn clothes! Here's some of her latest outfits!

I love these gold shoes!

How cute are these jeans?

Go Cougars!!!

The week after after we got home Koryn rolled from her front to her back! I was so excited! She did it quite a few times and to both sides! However, it appears that the rolling was a one day thing. She loves being on her stomach so much that she gets mad when she rolls onto her back. She's done it a few more times, but not too many.

March 4th we had Koryn's 4 month doctor's appointment. She now weighs 14 lbs and 6.5 ounces, which puts her in the 95th percentile and she's 26 inches long, which is the 75th percentile. I was amazed at how big she is! Who would have ever thought that I would have such a big kid!? At this appointment the doctor checked her mouth and told me he could see her teeth! They are still way down in the gums, but you can see the white lines! We're not expecting them any time soon, but they should be here before her 6 month appointment.

On our way home from the doctor's I stopped by the store and bought some rice cereal. I figured it's a good time to start introducing it. That night Justin and I tried feeding it to her and she hated it. As soon as it touched her tounge she started screaming! Oh well, we'll try again later.

Another milestone we hit was sleeping through the night! The first night was March 6th and I woke up at 5:30 and realized I hadn't heard from her yet! I checked on her and she was fine so I went back to bed. She slept until 7:30! She slept through the night again the next night. However, the next two nights were horrible! She was up 3-4 times each night! Luckily that only lasted 2 nights and she has been sleeping through the night since then! I love it!

On March 14th we had a new addition to the family. We got a boxer puppy named Roxy. At least I had almost a week of sleeping through the night, right? Roxy wasn't too bad. We only had a couple of nights at home before she slept through the night as well. Roxy is a pretty good puppy. She loves Koryn and will sniff and lick her to death! Koryn will tolerate it for a little while, and she lets us know when she's had enough.

Koryn now has enough hair for a ponytail! I love it! She has also started hamming it up for the camera. As soon as I pull it out she starts smiling!

She's also found her toes! They are her new favorite toy.

As you can see my life has been pretty crazy, but apparently not crazy enough because my yard now looks like this.

We tore up our entire yard and now have sod and the beginning of a fence. Our yard (if you can call it that) was all weeds, so we now have sod and we will soon have a fence so that the dog can run around and eventually Koryn can enjoy it as well.

After trying rice cereal every few days and Koryn still not too sure about it, she finally likes it! Here's some pictures of her finally enjoying the yummy food!

My turn!

Much to my dismay, I went into check on Koryn the other night and found this.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's cute when kids suck their thumb. I just didn't want my kid to suck her thumb. She took the pacifier for a long time and I was happy because I think it would be easier to break the habit of a pacifier than a thumb. For a few combined reasons, including not knowing how to put the pacifier in her mouth by herself, and two lovely bottom teeth coming in, I think I might give in to the thumb. I've tried during the day to make sure she has her pacifier, but she usually spits it out and finds her thumb. What do you think? Should I just give in to the thumb?

Anyways, our lives are pretty crazy and hopefully now that I've caught up I'll be able to keep current. Fingers crossed, right?

Finally!

2009-02-07T14:55:00.012-05:00

So I finally have time for an update! Things have been pretty busy here, as you can tell by my lack of posting. A lot has been happening lately. Koryn is now 3 months old. At her 2 month appointment she was 24 in. long (90th percentile again) and 10 lbs 12 oz (50th percentile...still). She still a long skinny baby. She is just now starting to grow out of her newborn clothes. It's so sad! Here's one of my many favorite newborn outfits. How cute are the shoes?

January 18th was her blessing day. Grandma and Grandpa Gallup and Grandma Sterner were all able to come out for the special day.

She was adorable in her blessing dress. Who knew that the Distribution Center would have such a cute dress?

It also snowed in January. We got 2-3 inches of snow overnight and so the next day we got all bundled up and went out to play. Here's her first snowball. Her nose is so red, but so cute!

Our mini snowman.

Our little snow angel!

She is smiling a ton and i just can't get enough of it!

How can you resist this?

This girl has soooo many bows and I didn't know what to do with them. So I got a little creative and made this. I love it because it can hang in her closet and it's so easy to find the bow I want.

Here's a view of the whole thing with all the bows on it.

A close up of the hanger

Close up of the bow

I think it turned out pretty good!

We've also been doing more tummy time lately. Sometimes she likes it and other times not so much. Here's one of the times in between :)

She's discovered her hands and now they are ALWAYS in her mouth. She hasn't eally discovered her thumb yet, but that's fine by me!

How pretty are these blue eyes! So far they've stayed really blue and I think they're gonna stay!

We have brought out a new toy for her. She loves to bounce and it has a motion setting where it'll play music when she bounces. It's great! Apparently it's hard work though.

That's all for now! We are going to Oregon in 1 week, so there will be lots more pictures and stories to come!

Cheese!

2009-01-04T20:05:00.002-05:00

So our little munchkin has started smiling! She first smiled in response to something when her Grandpa Gallup was whistling at her. She smiling more often now and I love it! This picture was taken at the airport while waiting for our luggage when we got back from Houston.

Quick Update

2009-01-02T17:36:00.003-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated! Koryn is doing well, but can be very demanding. She wants to be held all the time and refuses to take naps! She's now almost 2 months old! At her 1 month doctor's appointment she weighed 8 lbs. 15 ounces (50th percentile) and measured 21 3/4 inches long (75th percentile). She got 1 shot and cried for about 5 minutes afterward. Not too bad!

We spent Christmas vacation in Houston with my family. We flew down and Koryn slept the entire time on the flight there and on the way back. I was worried about the flying, but it turned out well. Vacation with my family was so nice! Everybody loved seeing Koryn and she loved all the attention! Unfortunately I don't have pictures. They are all on my parents' and sisters' cameras so when I get copies I'll post some. We had a wonderful Christmas. Koryn was so spoiled! She got tons of adorable clothes (including some from my parents' visit to China).

As part of my New Year's Resolution (yes I made one) I've started another blog. The address is http://myjourneythrough09.blogspot.com/ and it's mostly just for me. Feel free to read it if you want though! Also, a Gallup family blog has been started (http://gallupfam.blogspot.com/) but there are no guarantees how often it'll be updated. This was just a quick update since it's time for Koryn to eat and she is currently screaming at me! Happy New Year's and enjoy 2009!

I can't believe it!

2008-12-04T12:42:00.003-05:00

I can't believe that Koryn is 1 month old! Time is going by too fast. I think she needs to stop growing and be little forever! I'm amazed at how much she has changed in the last month. Tomorrow we have her 1 month doctor's appointment. We have to get shots :( I'll update again tomorrow and let everybody know how she's doing!

P.S. - Today is a great day because I was finally brave enough to try on my pre-pregnancy jeans and they fit! Up until now I've been wearing pants that were a little big before I was pregnant because I was scared to find out that my old clothes don't fit.

Time flies!

2008-11-24T19:58:00.020-05:00

It's amazing how fast the time has gone since Koryn came. I can't believe that tomorrow will be 3 weeks since she was born! The past few weeks have been busy, crazy, tiring, and fun all at the same time. Justin was able to stay home for 2 weeks following her birth. It was nice to have him around to help! We spent a lot of time at home (I still do), but we have made a few trips out to run errands and random things. Here's some pictures of what's been happening the past few weeks.

Here's pictures from her first trip out! This was the day after we brought her home. I know some people will give me a hard time for taking her out so soon, but the weather was awesome and I needed to get out!

How cute is that headband? (Even if it is a tiny bit too big!)

She slept almost the whole time we were out and loved sitting in the car with the sun on her. So cute!

There was a BYU football game a couple days after we brought her home, so of course we got her all dressed up for the game!

Family pic during the game!

Her one week picture! (She didn't like the flash going off)

Her big milestone at one week was that we got her to take a bottle! It's great for me because now Justin can do a late night feeding while I sleep! So far Koryn has been a very easy going baby. She'll take 2 different kinds of pacifiers and she'll switch between breastfeeding and bottle without any problems! Yea!

Two weeks old! She's so much more awake and alert now!

She is so cute when she sleeps!

I love dressing her up in all her cute clothes!

We've mostly been hanging out at home, so not too many stories yet. We did go take a family photo this past weekend and once I get those back I'll post that. Also, I realized this weekend that it had been a couple of years since I cut my hair and it was long enough to donate to Locks of Love again. So I decided to cut my hair after we took family photos.

Before

After

Day 2 and 3 (Long post with lots of pictures)

2008-11-06T20:27:00.041-05:00

Here's a quick look at what we've been up to since Koryn was born!

How can you not just love this face?

Did you ever question her favorite football team?

Just like Daddy

She loves this position and loves her Daddy!

Getting ready to go home!

Notice something wrong with her feet? The pants got put on backwards! We"ll give dad a break though since this was his first time dressing her.

Now the pants are on right!

Now for the shirt!

All dressed and ready to go!

Mom's turn!

Going for a walk before we leave.

Mom's turn to walk

Just waiting to leave

First family photo!

All buckled in!

Daddy is very proud!

On our way home!

Bringing Koryn inside

Daddy Daughter time! Justin loves rocking her in this chair and talking and singing to her. It's adorable to watch!

Koryn's nice gift to us not long after we got home.

After her surprise we decided it was bath time. She hates being naked and screamed the whole time. I think all the screaming made her stomach go crazy because just as we were finishing she decided to poop in the bath. Hopefully this doesn't become a regular thing.

So cute in her monkey towel!

More pictures to come soon, but this post is long enough for now!

Koryn Yvette Is Here!

2008-11-04T22:15:00.016-05:00

Koryn decided to make her appearance today! She was born at 11:12 AM, was 20 3/4 inches long, and weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. Here are some pictures of our little girl!

After receiving my meds. I was in a lot of pain before this! Justin calls this picture the queen of multi-tasking because I'm in labor and talking on the phone at the same time. Those meds work great!

Me with Koryn seconds after she was born

Getting all cleaned up!

Can you believe she weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces!?

Proud dad with his little girl!

Mom and her daughter!

Kisses from Mom!

Getting her hair washed during her first bath!

Enjoying time under the warmer after her bath

Getting her footprints

As you can see we're enjoying our time with our little girl and can't wait to take her home!

Sorry for the delay

2008-10-30T20:48:00.019-04:00

Sorry it's been so long! I've been so busy trying to get everything ready at work for when I leave and getting everything ready at the house for the baby.

Everything is going well here. I'm now 38 weeks along, which means that it's time for another picture!

I feel like my stomach is getting so big!

So here's an update on how Koryn is doing. Two weeks ago we had an ultrasound to see how big she is. The ultrasound technician told us that she's is growing well and weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces. Since this was a couple of weeks ago I'm sure she's over 6 pounds by now. The technician also guessed that she'll weigh between 6 1/2 and 7 pounds if she goes the full 40 weeks. I'm really hoping for the 6 1/2, but I'm hoping more for a healthy baby!

This week I went in for my 37 week appointment and I had my first exam to see if I'm making any progress towards labor. I was very surprised and excited to know that I'm now 1 cm dilated and almost 100% thinned out. The 1 cm part didn't surprise me too much, but the 100% did! It’s surreal to think that she really could come any day now. Justin and I both have feelings of excitement to meet her, but also a little bit of nervousness since we do not really know what to expect. The excitement definitely outweighs the nervousness though.

We've also been hard at work getting Koryn's nursery set up. We still have a few minor things to do like hanging pictures, but here's what we've accomplished so far!

Her crib!

Close up of the words above her crib.

View of the corner opposite of the crib.

Close up of the words above her bookcase.

I love how her room looks! It's funny that her room is the nicest room in our house! Our little girl is so spoiled! She's so loved already that I can't imagine what it's gonna be like once she's here.

Baby Koryn Yvette at 8 months! (We are finally announcing the name!)

2008-09-25T18:04:00.014-04:00

First, here are the ultrasound pictures from the last ultrasound. As you can tell she is getting big and doing well!

Now on to the 8 month post! First, here's my 8 months picture. I'm finally starting to really show! I don't look like I'm 8 months along and I get that comment constantly at work. I'm just happy knowing that she is doing well.

This last month has been crazy! Koryn is growing (and so is my belly!) and doing well. I am constantly amazed at how much one baby can move! She always lets me know what she is thinking and I just have to laugh. If she does not like the position I am sitting in she will either push out against my stomach or up into my ribs until I move. Once I move or change positions she stops. Over the past couple of weeks, I have gotten back into the habit of walking and I will walk between 1 and 2 miles every couple of days. I enjoy walking quickly because it makes me feel like I am getting good exercise. However, if I am walking too fast or for too long Koryn will start to push against my stomach or down into my hips, which makes me slow down. Once she is happy with my speed or that I stopped, she calms down. My little girl is so funny! I guess she takes after her dad in being able to make decisions and decide what she wants since I am not very good at that! I cannot help but laugh at Koryn’s personality and I cannot wait until she is born to see if she changes at all.

I had my doctor’s appointment a couple of days ago and everything is going well. I am still measuring small so the doctor wants to do another ultrasound to measure Koryn’s growth. Since I measured small last month and she was fine there is no rush for this ultrasound so it will be done in 3 weeks when I go for my normal appointment. I am not worried that anything is wrong since I know that she was fine last time and she has not stopped moving at all! She moves all the time! I think that maybe one reason I’m measuring small is because I’m carrying her a little low and I think towards my back since she’ not really out front. I am not complaining about being small, and I love having ultrasounds so that I can see how she is doing, and how much she has grown and changed!

Everything is starting to come together with preparing for the baby! We pick up our furniture this weekend and we got our gliding rocker, stroller, car seat, and pack and play this week. I only have a little over 7 weeks at the most to prepare, so I am excited that everything is starting to come together! I cannot wait until we have her bedroom finished so that I can feel really ready to bring her home!

Quick Update

2008-08-29T16:01:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to update everybody on what happened at my appointment on Wednesday.

Everything went great! She's doing really well and already weighs 3 pounds! I'm still measuring small and the doctor has no idea where the baby is hiding. I have to say that I agree! In my 7 month picture on the previous post I don't look 7 months pregnant nor do I look like I'm carrying a 3 pound baby. Oh well, at least we know that she is doing well.

Many people have been asking about her name and we are pretty sure we know what it is, but we're not making it public yet. I can tell you though that it will start with a "K" :)

The Past Month

2008-08-26T22:05:00.007-04:00

The last month has been very crazy, which is why I have not posted in a while. I spent the last month doing organizational projects around the house, relaxing, and getting ready for my last few months of teaching.

Everything has been going well with the pregnancy and since I have not posted in a while this post will be a 2 in 1.

6 Months

So at 6 months I still didn't have a belly to show for all the hard work I've been doing! :) I really cannot complain. I've had the easiest pregnancy ever. I'm starting to put on the weight and I gained 7 pounds in the last month bringing the total to 10 (again no complaints). I got to hear the heartbeat again, which is my favorite part of going to the doctor. This week her heartbeat was 160, which is nice and strong. It was funny when the nurse was trying to listen to the heartbeat because as soon as she put the microphone on my stomach my little girl started kicking right where the wand was sitting. She is really starting to develop her own personality. She is very active and moves all the time. She also does not like anything invading her space. If anything puts pressure on my stomach, such as a seatbelt, laying on my stomach, or anything she will start kicking at it as if she is telling me that it is in her way. It is funny every time it happens and I love it!

Now for the 7 month post. This one isn't too late because I just hit 7 months 4 days ago.

As you can see in the picture I'm finally starting to show! However, this picture makes me look a little bigger than I really am from day to day. I've gained 5 more pounds, which brings the grand total to 15. I feel like I don't look like I've gained that much weight, but all of it is between my shoulders and my hips so I'm hoping that a lot of it will go away shortly after having the baby. This month I had my glucose screening, which went well and everything looks great. I heard the heartbeat again and it was 159, which is perfect. Just like the last appointment, she kicked at the microphone again. This time I could see it, feel it and hear the movement on the speaker all at the same time. It was pretty cool. Next they measured me and told me I was measuring small. I think that everything is just fine with the baby. She is still just as active as ever and is still developing her little personality. Since I measured small I have to go in for an ultrasound tomorrow so that they can measure the baby and double check to see if she is alright. I’m a little nervous, but I think everything will be just fine.

That's what's been happening so far and I'll update again after my appointment tomorrow.

Justin is starting to worry that the baby's room will not be ready in time since we have yet to do anything on it. On the other hand I feel like we have plenty of time. It is cute to see Justin worry about his little girl and see how he wants everything to be perfect for her. He always wants to feel her kick and hold my stomach. Most mornings before we both leave for work she is still sleeping, but that does not stop him from trying to get her to kick for him. It is so cute!

Well, until next time!

Baby's First Photo Shoot

2008-07-16T14:53:00.009-04:00

Here are some pictures from our last ultrasound!

Profile Picture

First Foot Print

Now some 3D

She was a little shy during the ultrasound

There's her face!

I just can't get enough!

Trying to hide again. It almost looks like she's smiling!

So cute!

She's adorable! I can't wait to meet her!

The Long Awaited Post

2008-07-03T12:08:00.003-04:00

We've now reached the halfway mark! I'm now at 20 weeks and just starting to get a baby belly! Granted I'm still probably the only one that can tell. Here's the 5 month picture!

As many of you know, 20 weeks is the BIG ultrasound. That's right! We went in for my 20 week ultrasound and found out that we're having a girl! I'm so excited! It took Justin a little while to process that he was going to have a daughter, but he's excited. We got to see our little girl in 3D and 4D (with motion) during the ultrasound. It was so cool! It was funny because she got shy once we switched to 3D. She was hiding her face with her arms and hands. It was so cute! Eventually we did get to see her little face though! They gave us a DVD of the whole ultrasound process and a TON of pictures. Once I get my desktop and scanner set up I'll post some of those pictures.

In other news, the cruise was awesome! We got to hang out on the beach in Jamaica, go to a turtle farm and swim and feed stingrays in Grand Cayman and swim with dolphins in Cozumel, Mexico. Once I have time to go through the 3200 or so pictures I'll post some. Yes we have about 3200 pictures. Between my 2 cameras, my parents 2 cameras, my grandma's camera and my sisters Kelcie and Kaylee's cameras we successfully took that many pictures in 1 week. Granted most of the pictures are of my sisters taking pictures of themselves and their "photo shoots." Once I have time to sort though all of the pictures I'll post those as well.

Well that's our life for now! Pretty crazy and exciting, but so much fun!

It's been a while

2008-06-13T22:14:00.009-04:00

So I know it's been a while since my last update. Here's my excuse why. My apartment looked like this....

We finally moved! I'd post a current picture of the house, but it's easier to say see above. We've both been pretty busy with work and stuff so we haven't gotten too much unpacking done. Once it's done though I'll do a before and after post. The house we bought was unlived in for about 8 months before we moved in and it needed some work. We've done some updates that we're pretty proud of! I promise I'll post pictures once the house is presentable :)

Now more important things! Due to the crazyness of moving and getting internet set up and all that jazz, I never posted my 3 month picture. Well here it is!

So I know it looks like I have a belly, but unfortunately I don't. It's a combination of a thick skirt and 2 shirts overlapping right at my belly.

Here's proof about how far behind my blog is. It's now time for me to post the 4 month picture. So here's another!

This picture looks like I'm starting to get a belly and it's finally true! However, it's only big enough that I notice and it only shows when I'm wearing really giving clothes such as skirts and bathing suits. Soon enough I'll have a baby tummy :)

I'm now 18 weeks along, which means only 2 more weeks until the next picture of my belly and only 2 weeks until we can find out what we're having! I'm so excited! My next ultrasound is on June 26!

Now even more excitement! School is finally out for the summer which means we leave tomorrow to go on a cruise with my family! I'm so excited to see them again and go on vacation! I'll be gone for the next week, but there will be plenty of pictures afterwards (most of which we will probably be as red as lobsters). Enjoy until next time!

12 Weeks!

2008-05-05T20:55:00.004-04:00

I can't believe that it's already been 12 weeks! At the same time though, I still have 28 weeks left.

I receive an email every week that compares the size of the baby to food. It's funny to see what food I'm carrying every week. We have now reached lime status!

Now the real reason for this post. I had my 12 week appointment today and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time! It took no time for the nurse to find the heartbeat. I guess the baby really wanted to be heard today! It's amazing how fast their little hearts beat. Everything has been going extremely smooth so far. I haven't been sick or had pain of any kind. I just hope that the next six months are as smooth as the first 3!

I'm not sure if I believe in all the wives tales, but it is fun to look at them and try to guess what I'm having. The heartbeat is now at 164, I'm craving sweets, haven't gained any weight, and absolutely no morning sickness! What do you think? I've put a poll on the right side. Vote and let me know!

Quick Update

2008-04-17T16:40:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update to let everybody know that everything is going great! Last week was spring break and so Justin and I took a break and went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We saw a WWII battleship, hung out at the beach and went to an aquarium. I'll put up pictures as soon as I get a chance to sort through them!

I'm sure some of you are wondering how the baby is doing. Well, everything is great! The baby is about the size of a grape, weighs a fraction of an ounce and is now 1 inch long. So little! This Friday will be 10 weeks and so far I couldn't ask for a better pregnancy. Ask me again in about 5 months and it might be a different answer, but for now it's great! I haven't had any sickness so far, well as long as I eat I'm fine. I'm pretty sure that if sickness hasn't started by now I probably won't have any (knock on wood)! We are so excited and I don't know how I'm gonna last another 30 weeks!
:)

Which one looks better?

2008-04-06T21:22:00.005-04:00

Which one looks better?

Number 1

Number 2

It’s true! Our family of two is growing to a family of 3! I’m 8 weeks along and due on November 14^th. So far everything is going great. I haven’t been sick, just really tired. However, the tiredness is starting to go away. Everything seems to be falling into place with the house and the baby. We are so excited!

Here's some more pictures!

The shirt I made

1 month

2 Months

First ultrasound at 7 1/2 weeks

More to come soon!

A house to call home

2008-03-29T22:12:00.015-04:00

So we have a house! It's a 3 bedroom 2 bath house, 1600 square feet and built in 2003. The best part is that we got it through the Good Neighbor Next Door Program (GNND). Let me explain really quick. The Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) buys foreclosed homes and then sells them through the GNND program. The BEST part is that the homes are sold for 50% off! Only teachers, firefighters, EMTs and police officers qualify. Finally somebody rewards teachers! We may not get the best pay, but we get homes for 50% off! Anyways, in Charlotte there's anywhere from 10-15 homes per week. Some of them need a ton of work and some need next to nothing. New homes are posted every Friday and you have to make a decision by the next Tuesday. Once you look at a home you tell your Realtor if you want to put a bid on it. The only downside to the program is that anybody that puts a bid on a house goes into a random lottery and a name is drawn for who gets the house. Yes, a random lottery. Anyways, we've been looking for a couple of months and we've placed 6 bids, but finally our name was drawn! We found out this last Wednesday and we'll close in about 1 month and move in about 2 months! I'm so excited! We really lucked out because our house needs nothing to move in, but we're going to make some upgrades such as flooring, paint and lighting just to personalize it a little. It's in a better part of town, next to a huge and nice park, and only 5 minutes from church. We'll have to switch wards and we're sad, but it'll all work out. Anyways, here's a few pictures!

Front of the House

First Bedroom

Second Bathroom

Kitchen

Living Room

Second Bedroom

Second Bedroom Again

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Master Bathroom Again

Long Awaited Update!

2008-03-24T21:53:00.017-04:00

First off, sorry it has been sooooo long! We've been extremely busy with visiting family and work and the past few months have just flown by! I can't believe that March is almost over! Well, here's what we've been up to lately!

For Thanksgiving we were able to drive down to Houston and visit my family for Thanksgiving. It was tons of fun and I can't believe how fast my siblings are growing up! Here's some pictures to highlight what we did!

We spent lots of time hanging out and lots of eating! Here's a picture of me, Karissa and Kaylee and then one of Kelcie and Grandma cooking.

We were also able to go swimming! Thank you for heated pools!

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving break without watching BYU football beat Utah! Go Cougars!

Here's some pictures that make me wonder how any of us turned out to be normal! Love you dad!

It was so much fun seeing my family and getting to hang out (as if you can't tell)!

For Christmas, we were able to go to Oregon and spend time with Justin's family. We spent plenty of time relaxing and seeing family. Here's a few pictures, but I'm still missing a few from other family members.

We were able to stay with Justin's dad and they even got a little video game time!

We were also able to Justin's mom and his grandparents!

Other than these two vacations we've just been busy with work. When I say busy I really mean busy! Justin's had a couple of weeks where he would get off of work until somewhere between 10 PM and 1 AM. Needless to say, life's been pretty crazy! We have lots of stuff to look forward to though! I'm looking forward to summer break and not having to worry about the craziness of work and we have been planning a cruise that we're going on with my family in June.

Sorry again for the long delay! I'm going to work on being better about updating!

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-05T19:24:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from Halloween. We spent the evening at our ward's "trunk or treat" passing out candy. However, we didn't decide we were going until the night before so our costumes suffered a bit, but we still had a great time! Here are some pictures!

Our pumpkin! (It's a moon with a bat)

And now on to the costumes!!!!

Justin was none other than.....a BYU fan!

Notice the blue hair!

Not quite sure what I was...I wanted to find a witch hat, but as you can tell I didn't succeed. Gotta love the tights though!

Us at the "trunk or treat"

Our friend's trunk at the "trunk or treat" where we helped pass out candy

Our friends little girl dressed as a duck! How cute!

One of my nursery kids dressed as Superman

Both Good Days and Bad Days

2007-10-27T12:08:00.001-04:00

Teaching Special Education has been quite the experience. My job can be very stressful, but also very rewarding. The school district can be a huge pain to work with and the school politics are extremely annoying, but things happen that make me smile and remember why I love what I do. My students amaze me and make me smile everyday. Here are two of the latest comments that I remember that made me smile. I was having a coughing attack one day (for no reason) and one of my students said "Mrs. Beasley, your husband is not going to be happy that you're sick!" I thought it was too funny and me laughing during my coughing attack only made things worse! After the ordeal was over, I was still laughing at what my student said. The other comment that always makes me laugh happens every Friday. We talk about what my students are going to do and then a student (never the same one) will say "Mrs. Beasley what are you going to do this weekend, watch football?" They know me too well! It's pretty funny that they say this all at once and they know it's true! Also, every Monday when they come in they'll say, "Mrs. Beasley you watched football all weekend, right?" Too funny!

One perk that my job has that I absolutely love is taking my students to compete in Special Olympics. I love being able to teach my students about different sports and then watching them compete. The best part has to be when they receive their medal. It doesn't matter what place they got, they are just so proud to have that medal. Their smiles and excitement are unforgettable. Yesterday was the bowling competition for Special Olympics and my students had a blast! They competed against 1-3 other students on their lane. The Special Education program at my school came home with 4 gold medals, 6 silver medals, 4 bronze medals and 1 4th place ribbon. They were so excited! I absolutely love my job!

My students with their Special Olympics Medals

Too funny to resist!

2007-10-17T18:35:00.000-04:00

So I got this from one of my friends and it's too funny!

Mine

1. My rock star name (first pet and current car): Gidget Elantra
2. My gangsta name (favorite ice cream flavor and favorite cookie): Mint Chocolate Snickerdoodle
3. My "fly guy/girl" name (first initial of first name and first three letters of last name): K Bea
4. My detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Pink Fish
5. My soap opera name (middle name and city where you were born): Yvette Logan
6. My Star Wars name (first three letters of your last name and first two letters of your first name): Beaki
7. My superhero name (2nd favorite color and favorite drink with "The" in front): The blue juice
8. My Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers): Rand Leo
9. My witness-protection name (mother's and father's middle names): Yvette William

My husband's

1. My rock star name (first pet and current car): Dusty Sentra
2. My gangsta name (favorite ice cream flavor and favorite cookie): Mint Chocolate Snickerdoodle
3. My "fly guy/girl" name (first initial of first name and first three letters of last name): J Bea
4. My detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Blue Wolf
5. My soap opera name (middle name and city where you were born): Edwin Salem
6. My Star Wars name (first three letters of your last name and first two letters of your first name): Beaju
7. My superhero name (2nd favorite color and favorite drink with "The" in front): The Green Sprite
8. My Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers): Bud Leslie
9. My witness-protection name (mother's and father's middle names): Jean Oren

Now I tag: Everybody you see on my friend's list to the left and anybody else that wants to do it!

Update

2007-09-19T20:42:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to do a quick update and let those that read the last post know that our dear friend John Martinson passed away Tuesday night after a week long battle. We are very sad that he is no longer with us. Please pray for his wife, who is pregnant with their first child, and family. They need it more than anything right now. I never thought that I would be attending the funeral for somebody my own age. Life is very precious. Let those that you love know so everyday.

It's been a long time!

2007-09-14T17:50:00.000-04:00

So there's been quite a bit going on in the Beasley household. I haven't uploaded pictures to our picture site yet, but I'll post on here when I do. A lot has actually happened since the last post (obviously). First, we went to the midnight book release for Harry Potter #7. Let's just say it was interesting. We went in our normal clothes and we were in the minority! haha! It was pretty fun. They had a costume contest, crafts and a debate. We got there about 10:30 or 11 so we missed a lot of stuff, but we just hung out and had fun. The best part is saying that we were there to get our reserved copy at midnight! I went and picked up our wristband from Borders that morning, so we were in the first group to get our books. Of course I had to drive home that night so Justin could read on the way home! Then I went to bed when we got home and he didn't come to bed for a few hours later! What can I say except that he's a true Harry Potter fan. It was an interesting night, but it was pretty fun! Then, at the beginning of August I was able to attend a scrapbook conference that came to Charlotte. I had a blast! Thanks Mom! I had classes and activities Thursday night, and all day Friday and Saturday. By all day I mean 8:30 AM to 11:30 PM! I had a blast though! I made a lot of projects (most of which still aren't finished because I'm missing supplies). When I get everything together I'm gonna take pictures and post those on our site. Other than that, we haven't done too much yet. School started back up, and I can't decide if I'm excited or not. Right now I'm too stressed to feel anything else! Long story short, the Special Education program at my school is a mess! I'm a first year teacher and I have the most experience in Severe/Profound Special Education! I think once things calm down I'm really going to enjoy this school though. Justin just started taking online accounting classes from LSU and once he gets enough accounting credits he's going to take the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) exam. Hopefully this will help him in his job ie: promotions and raises :) !

The real reason I'm writing is because we have a dear friend in our ward here that is in need of desperate prayers and thoughts on his behalf. I won't write the whole story, but here's a shortened version of it. He was in a REALLY bad car accident Tuesday morning on his way to work. He was air lifted to the hospital and he had internal bleeding, which they've stopped, broke both legs, both ankles, his pelvis, both arms (one in two places) and his shoulder. He is currently in the Trauma/ICU unit and was making improvements until today. He is on a respirator and is having problems with his heart rate, blood pressure and lungs. I'm asking anybody that reads this to PLEASE offer up a prayer in behalf of John Martinson. If you would like to see updates on his progress here is the website.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/john_martinson

Thank you so much!

Both of us have a greater appreciation for the blessings in our life, especially our friends, family and our faith. Please remember everything you have been given and give thanks everyday! We love you all!

Vacation Day 2

2007-07-26T17:45:00.000-04:00

So I finally have all the pictures from the rest of our vacation in order. Below are some of the pictures from the rest of the week that we spent in Tennessee. From now on I'm going to post pictures at www.justinandkitara.myphotoalbum.com and you can go there to look at them. They are the same pictures as in the slideshows you'll see, but you can see them bigger if you would like. Now for the rest of our vacation!

Pictures!!!
MyPhotoAlbum free photo and video sharing

So the first day of our vacation was Monday and we posted that 2 posts ago if you want to go back and read that. Tuesday we drove from Knoxville, where we stayed Monday night, to Nashville, Tennessee! We spent all day at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It was acutally pretty cool to see how country music started and learn about all the country music stars that I grew up with. Justin is new to country so he didn't know too many of the older singers, but he knew a lot of the current ones since country is mainly all we listen to out here in North Carolina (well, country and sports radio!). After spending all day at the museum we met up with our friends Blake and Danielle that lived above us while we were at BYU. We hung out and got settled and then we went over to Danielle's parent's house. We all hung out and talked for a while and then went to another house to watch fireworks. Yes, we watched fireworks on the 3rd of July. I enjoyed them! And Blake and Danielle's dog Cosmo did too! He would bark and every firework that went off! It was pretty funny since Cosmo doesn't really have a bark. Here's a video of him during some of the fireworks. You can kinda see him, but you HAVE to listen to him!

Click To Play

On to Wednesday! We spent all day on the lake boating! And I do mean ALL day! It was so much fun! We took a 4 hour tour of the lake on a pontoon boat. That was pretty cool. The first couple of hours were really fun, but then everybody wanted to get onto the speedboat! We almost submerged the pontoon boat, which was scary at the time, but pretty funny afterwards. The best part of the day, at least for me, was I learned how to wakeboard! Well, kinda. I posted a video in the previous post. There was a lot of crashing, but a couple of good ones too! It was a blast!

Thursday Justin and I sent the day in Nashville again since Blake had school and Danielle had work. Nashville is the only place in the world that has a life size replica of the Parthenon so we went and saw that for most of the day. It was really cool to see and fun to take pictures of! The main floor inside had a really neat art gallery that we spent quite a while walking around. After that we went upstairs to the main room that had the Athena statue in it. It was huge! I don't remember the exact height, but she was enormous! You can see how big she is in the pictures. Also on the second floor there were replicas of the statues that are found on the outside of the Parthenon up at the top. After the Parthenon we went back to Blake and Danielle's and hung out for a while and played some Wii. It was so much fun! After playing around for a while we met up with Danielle's family and Blake's sister and brother-in-law at Monell's. This restaurant was so good!!! It's like southern family style cooking. They bring out huge bowls of food and you pass the bowls around the table. The restaurant building just happens to be an old jail and the room where we ate was the room where they used to hang people. Crazy! It's the room where you waitress leaves you hanging! Right Danielle? After Monell's, Blake, Danielle, Justin and I had the opportunity to go to the Nashville temple and do some sealings. It was so nice to be able to go to the temple and it felt like old times when we hung out in Utah.

Friday was a great day! It was Danielle's Dad's birthday so we did what he loves best! Spend ALL day on the lake! I loved it! This time we had a big party boat that we hung out on, the pontoon boat from Wednesday and around 4 speedboats. It was a blast! We went tubing and rode a banana behind the party boat. We didn't go very fast, but it was a blast! And it was the only thing Danielle could really do since there's a baby Haines on the way!!! Justin and I got to use the wave runner for a little while, which was a blast! It was Justin's first time on a wave runner! That's crazy! He loved it though, which I'm happy about! After hanging out on the lake we went and saw "Live Free of Die Hard" for Danielle's Dad's b-day. It was such a good movie!

Saturday was our last full day in Tennessee. We spent all morning hanging out at Blake and Danielle's house and then went over to Danielle's parents house again. We all went and saw "Transformers" and even though I complained about not wanting to see it, I have to admit it was a pretty good movie. After the movie we went to a party with Danielle's parents and we happened to see Brittany Cromar's parents (another friend from BYU). THat was pretty random, but kinda cool. We left the party early and the girls went to Old Navy to go shopping while the boys went home and did who knows what. Once everybody was back home we played Settlers!!! I love this game! It was a pretty long game and so that took up the rest of the night.

Sunday was a pretty sad day. We had to say goodbye to Blake and Danielle and drive 7 or so hours home. It was a great vacation and we had a ton of fun!!! Thanks Blake and Danielle!!!!

Wakeboarding!

2007-07-14T23:23:00.001-04:00

Click To Play

Vacation Day 1

2007-07-02T23:41:00.000-04:00

Today was the first day on our vacation to Tennessee! We left the house and drove to western North Carolina to some waterfalls outside Asheville, NC. We first went to Bridal Veil Falls. It was supposed to be pretty cool, but this is what we ended up seeing.

It ended up not being so majestic, but it was still pretty. You used to be able to drive under the waterfall, but not anymore. The big rock on the left ended up falling and blocking the road so you can't drive under it, but you can still pull off to the side and walk around it.

After Bridal Veil Falls, we went to Dry Falls. This waterfall was a lot better. You're able to walk behind it to the other side. It was pretty cool! When you walked behind it you got misted, which was actually kinda fun! Here's a picture of us with the whole falls.

After the waterfalls, we randomly stopped in Cherokee, NC. It ended up being pretty fun. We saw a couple of Native Americans perform a dance show that was really interesting! Justin was wearing his Brigham Young University shirt and one of the performers saw it and was telling us that he graduated from there in 1984 (the best football year ever for BYU!). It was kinda cool to meet somebody out here that knows what BYU is, much less went there.

Our next stop along the way was Gatlinburg, TN. This was a very big tourist town, but very cool at the same time! We just walked along and looked at different stores, ate some really good BBQ at Corky's and played mini golf at Hillbilly Golf. The golf course is up on the side of a mountain and you ride a cart up the side of the mountain. It was pretty fun, but not too different from a regular mini golf cart. The first picture is of the golf course, and the second picture is one of the many traps you would see on the course.

After Gatlinburg, TN we finished our drive for the day and we are now resting in Knoxville, TN. I'll try to put more pictures up when I have time. More adventures to come soon!

The Beginning

2007-06-29T15:33:00.000-04:00

At the request of a few people, we're creating this blog to keep in touch with all of our friends and family that are now all over the country! I can't promise there being too many updates because we really don't do too much. Sad! Maybe I'll have to change that. So here's the first post and I'm sure there will be more to come at some point!