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Jake’s sister, Ashlee, flew to DC with her friends over spring break. We decided to make the 5 hour trek up North to visit her for the weekend. It was GREAT to see Ashlee. Allie adores her and got the quivering lower lip and teary eyes after we said good bye to her.

I wish I could say the trip was awesome, but unfortunately, it was not one of our better vacations. Maybe it was because it was the weekend of Friday the 13th; we had bad luck all weekend long.
1. Traffic: horrible
2. Hotel: not as cool as the website made it out to be and it was further from DC than we had hoped. And…we were soooo looking forward to going swimming in their indoor pool and sitting in the hot tub. The water was freezing!!
3. Food: crappy-we just kept choosing the wrong places
4. Sleep: What’s that? No one got any.
5. Kids: grumpy (due to reason #4 and #1-being strapped in the car all weekend long)
6. Weather: sucked big time!!!! It rained NON STOP. Okay, I take that back…it let up Saturday morning for a couple hours…enough to get a few pictures in. But it was freezing too. Note to self…do not go to DC in the winter.
7. Camera: was on the wrong settings so most of my photos turned out blurry.
8. Jake’s iphone fell and cracked the face. Jake was not a happy camper.
9. Jake’s huge pepsi spilled ALL over our car.
10. And now Luke is back to waking up 4 times a night. I don’t deal well with little sleep…I turn into a monster.

Whew, that was a lot of negativity from me. Overall, we are glad we went. It was so good to see Ashlee, even though it was short and luck was not on our side.

Maybe now that it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I’m part Irish, our luck will come back. Happy St. Patrick’s day to everyone!

Ten years ago today I was hanging out with my two roommates, Jodie and Teresa, in Carousel Court Apartments in Rexburg, Idaho. We were bored, wondering what to do on a cold Saturday night in a small college town. Out the window we saw some guys walking. We deemed them “hot” and decided to see where they were headed. Well, we followed them to Rockland apartments. We didn’t want to appear as stalkers so we decided that we’d stop following them and go say hello to our home teachers, who happened to live in the Rockland apartment complex. As we approached their apartment, the door swung open and Teem (one HT) and another guy, whom I had not met, were heading out. Their plans changed when we met up; Teem and Teresa went to rent a movie, while Jodie, the new guy and I stayed back.

As you may have guessed by now, the new guy was Jake. Jake and I flirted all night while singing along with the Proclaimers, playing Nuclear War, and swapping massages while watching “So I Married an Axe Murderer” (the movie that Teem and Teresa rented). Teem drove us home and Jake hopped in the back seat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders to keep me warm. At home, my roommates and I excitedly talked about Jake and how we totally hit it off. To be honest, I can’t say that I knew he was the man I was going to marry the moment I saw him like some people can, but I knew we were attracted to each other and I was excited to see him again. Jake later told me that on the way home Teem told Jake that he thought we’d be a great match. Teem was exactly right!!

• Five days later we went on our first date, swing dancing.
• Three weeks later we kissed (on April Fools day, ha ha).
• A year and one day later we were engaged. (He was hoping to propose on March 12th but the ring wasn’t ready until the next day).
• One year and three months later we were sealed and married in the Jordan River Temple. The best day of my life!

Ten years later I am so grateful that things worked out the way they did. I am happily married to my best friend. He’s an amazing husband and father. I feel so blessed to have him for eternity!

We went to a children’s hair salon today and got Allie’s hair cut for the second time in her life. It was definitely time for a cut. I think she looks so cute with shoulder-length hair.

BEFORE

Please excuse the no pants…she despises wearing pants and half the time I let her go pantless because I don’t feel like arguing (now you know who really wears, or doesn’t wear, the pants in the family:).

AFTER

I can’t believe we have let a whole month go by with out blogging. It’s not for a lack of things to blog about, I’ve just become lackadaisical about doing it. It’s always on the list of things to do but it’s the last item on the list so it rarely get’s crossed off. Anyway, I have a lot I could report but I’m just going to give an update on Luke for now. Jake will be blogging soon.

Luke turned 9 months last week. He started crawling about 3 weeks ago and he is unstoppable now. He’s exploring all over the place and I’ve just realized that my home is not very proofed for baby. With this new milestone has come lots of bruises. He is climbing on everything and will lose his balance and hit his head. Poor guy has bruises all over his noggin. But he’s tough and it hasn’t stopped him from trying again.

We are still waiting on some teeth. By this age, Allie had at least 4 teeth so it’s a little surprising that he doesn’t have any yet. It looks like the bottom two will come up any day. However, he still enjoys gumming down some cheerios, beans or noodles.

Luke just learned how to wave and clap his hands. I love this age…they’re so sweet and innocent. He’s growing up so quickly on us; it’s hard to believe he will be a year old in a few months.

Here are his stats from his nine month check up:
Weight: 19lbs 12 oz (50%)
Height: 28 1/4 in (50%)

Everyone thinks he is huge but according to the numbers, he’s just an average sized baby. I think he is slimming out now that he is crawling (he weighs the same as he did at 8 months and yet eating more).

We won’t let a full month go by again so keep checking back. I know how much I love reading others blogs so I’ll try to keep up to date with ours.

This picture doesn’t show it well, but he has a rash all over his body.

This winter is beginning to seem extremely long. Now that I have two kids, I have double the illnesses to deal with. Both kids seem to catch every bug that crosses their path and then they pass it to the rest of the family. This past week has been especially hard on Luke. He had an infection that he has been taking antibiotics for, had a fever for three days, now a rash (Roseola), a slightly pink eye, diarrhea, eczema and of course a runny nose that he seems to have had all winter long. I don’t remember Allie being this sick when she was his age (however, with preschool and primary she is probably passing the germs to Luke).

Although its been a rough week for us, I did have an extremely sweet moment with Luke. One night Luke woke up and was inconsolable. After an hour of trying all the usual tactics to get him back to sleep, nothing was working and I was desperate. So, I laid down with him and we snuggled in bed. He immediately stopped crying and he started to gently caress my arm with his fingertips; up and down, ever-so lightly, for a good 20 minutes. (This is very unusual for him as he normally swats, pinches or claws). He went right back to sleep after that. It was precious and a moment I will probably never forget.

I’m hoping for a healthy and well rested week ahead. Especially since Jake is going out of town for the weekend.

It rarely snows here in NC so when it does, it’s a big deal. Schools closed, businesses closed, church activities were canceled. The state stopped for 4 inches of snow.

I begged Jake to stay home and play in the snow with us for a little bit. Unfortunately, he was too busy… that is, until UNC canceled all classes due to the snow. So Jake came home a little earlier than normal and he and Allie made a snowman. Luke and I only stayed outside long enough to take some pictures then headed inside to our warm, cozy apartment and made hot chocolate for them. It was a fun snow day!

It would take WAY too much time to tell you about all that we’ve done in the past month. So here are some bullet points and some pictures to go along with them:

I taught preschool and threw a Preschool Christmas party

Allie and I went with our girlfriends to Disney on Ice. Allie was in heaven!

Went to the Raleigh temple to see a Live Nativity Scene and show Allie the temple. They also had a room for kids to dress up and Allie had fun dressing up as Mary. She couldn’t stop kissing the baby doll.

Went to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro

We had a Christmas Eve dinner with some friends

Christmas morning was so perfect. Allie got EVERYTHING she wanted (way too much princess stuff). It was such a peaceful and relaxing day.

We went to Corolla, NC to a beach house with some friends over New Years. It was freezing so we mainly stayed indoors. We played lots of games and soaked in the hot tub.

We had a wonderful month but we missed family greatly! One of my goals this year is to update this blog more often…I’ve been slacking. Happy New Year to everyone!

To one, to all, Merry Christmas. We hope this letter finds you well, with hot chocolate in your belly and fuzzy slippers on your feet. As for us, we can’t wait for Christmas to enjoy each other’s company and relax at home. We will sorely miss being away from family, this being the first year in our married life to do so. But Santa will visit us here in Chapel Hill just as he would out west, and we’ll celebrate as a small family the best season of the year.

This year has treated us well. Of most significance, we three became four. Our son, Luke, is now six months old and is as lively as ever. He rolls, sits up and falls over, tries to steal food while we’re eating and laughs as his older sister mauls him. More than once, we have said to ourselves, “so this is what a boy is like” as Luke squirms, wiggles and grunts for attention. We love him. Most of all, Allie loves him—so much so that she constantly kisses, hugs and suffocates him. She has nicknamed him “Jeh-Jeh,” which came from thin air. The rest of us call him Buster and Pokey, which also came from thin air. It seems that he is just so lovable that he needs three nicknames to accommodate our affection for him.

Allie, age 3, took some serious steps toward growing up this year. She got rid of the pacifier, moved to a big girl bed, started pre-school and dance lessons, and very stubbornly mastered potty training. She has developed a healthy imagination and often tells stories that include princesses, horses, frogs, unicorns and Jesus—usually with some combination of those characters. When Luke was born, we were worried that she would reject the idea of another child absorbing much of mommy’s attention—but Allie responded amazingly well by loving and nurturing her baby brother. She brags often that she is a big sister. Seriously, we hate that she is growing up, but we sure enjoy these milestones in her life and she seems to generally take them in stride.

Kerrie spends most of her day chasing the two kids mentioned above. She, like most mothers, lives much of her life through the eyes and hands of her children. Being a mother is Kerrie’s greatest joy and struggle. Such is life. At nights, when the kids have finally left her some time for herself, she enjoys a good movie, surfing family blogs and watching the Office. And she continues to moonlight as an amateur photographer. Kerrie has made some great friends here in North Carolina and enjoys play-dates with them while the kids run wild.

Jake is plodding along through school…still. He completed his coursework towards his doctorate and is now working on a dissertation. We’re more than halfway done here at UNC and hope to get a job out West when graduation finally approaches. Jake works most of the day, but spends plenty of time playing. He is certainly the most spoiled member of the family. What he wants, he gets and the rest of us oblige because his tantrums are the biggest of all. Jake has had some fun opportunities to travel this year for accounting conferences—he went to Memphis in March, Provo in October and will be visiting New Orleans and Orlando in the next couple months. Someday, he’ll have a real job.

Life has been mostly good for us. Of course, we’ve had our angry, pouty, selfish, sleepy, gassy, rolley-poley, schleppy moments, but we remember the good things. And that’s what counts. We want you to know that you are one of those good things that we remember. We miss you and love you.

Merry Christmas,
Jake, Kerrie, Allie and Luke

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Normally we feel a little homesick on Thanksgiving but this year we were too busy to feel sorry for ourselves. We hosted the feast at our apartment and had a full house. There were fourteen people and a dog. We had so much food, the dog even feasted. Here are some pictures:

This is the first turkey I’ve ever made. It turned out very tender and delicious, if I say so myself. I used the Homestyle Turkey, the Michigander Way recipe so I can’t take too much credit. Anything smothered in butter will turn out delicious.

The gang about to dig in(minus me, two babies and the dog).

YUM!!! Turkey, mashed potatoes/gravy, rolls, corn on cob, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing, homemade baked beans, raspberry jello dessert, and deviled eggs. Not to mention there were appetizers: veggies and ranch, cheese and crackers, pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing. And of course we topped off the evening with some chocolate pecan pie, pumpkin cream pie and ice cream.


Allie’s meal consisted of crackers, muffins, rolls, pie and ice cream. A nice well rounded meal.

Luke watched from the sidelines.

After dinner we exercised it off by playing Wii boxing matches. We had some good laughs watching each couple take each other on. Allie got into it as well.

We had a Thankful Tree. Every day in November Allie would say something she is thankful for and we’d put it on a leaf and onto the tree. She came up with some interesting things: wishes, princesses, beds, bags. She also came up with some very meaningful things: family, friends, home, food, Jesus Christ, church, prophet.

Lastly, I want to say how grateful I am for my darling children, amazing husband, perfect parents, siblings who I adore, wonderful in-laws and super fun friends. I’m also grateful for my health, my home, and for the food that we have. My Heavenly Father and Savior are especially important and I’m extremely thankful that I know of them and their plan for me.

Luke is six months old. Can you believe it? I hardly can. These past six months have flown by. Luke had his check up today and here are his stats:

18 lbs 5oz (just below 75%)
26 3/4 inches (75%)

I am shocked that he’s not in the 90th percentile. He seems huge to me and apparently to everyone else as well. Everyone assumes he’s a 9 month old because of his size.

He’s healthy and hitting his milestones on target. He is rolling everywhere, sitting up, saying mama (although I doubt he knows what that means), he laughs hard at Allie and he ate rice cereal for the first time today. He loved it!