One Year

One year. A lot can happen in a year and a lot can change. One year seems like such a long time some times. Usually this kind of a post would come out in January, however today is a day that I will always look back to a year ago and see where Chad and I have ended up. 

You see those clouds? They left, then came back... and so on.

So where have we ended up? More in love than the day we got married and sealed in the Provo, Utah temple. Can you believe it has been a whole year? 

Chad and I have a song and it was the song we danced our first dance together to. It is "You and I" by Michael Bublé. There are a couple of phrases that strike me and each one has been shown to be right on with our relationship. 

1: "God has made us fall in love, it's true."

For those that know how Chad and I actually came to fall in love know that I didn't fall in love with just anyone. I could have fallen for someone else and would have been just as happy, but God had a special plan for Chad and I. This plan started before we even met. 

I had debated to go to USU due to a scholarship I had received there and Chad had gotten a scholarship to swim at a near by university in New York. In the end we decided to go to BYU. We met at New Student Orientation and became extremely good friends. We never went on a date but there were some feelings below the surface for each of us that whole year. There was something different about Chad and I was able to see a bit into what it was when he asked me to drive him to get his Patriarchal Blessing. I took work off because it was December and I didn't want him to walk as far as it was (it was quite a bit above the temple) and he wasn't able to find a ride with our other friend Erik. We were the two that had cars that he really knew and it was no problem for me to take him. That was a special experience for us and we think about it often. 

He got his mission call and then went home for the summer. I was here in Provo and was going through a lot but Chad was there. He helped me grow and allowed me to talk freely. I didn't feel judged at all when I talked with him. When he was a month away from his mission we started talking a lot more. Feelings came out from both of us but I continued to date while he was gone.  It was a crazy year for me while he was gone and both of us really grew. We stayed in contact and when I got a no to go on a mission and he ended up coming home it was like God knew where we needed to be. God knew that if He said yes to me about serving a mission I wouldn't see Chad how I needed to. I would be too preoccupied to go on a mission than to get married and marriage is what was right for us. 

God allowed us to grow our relationship in a way that we needed. It was different. I was able to connect with a guy with out cuddling, holding hands, and a kiss. Our long distance relationship was everything to me because we came out on top and were able to communicate with one another easily. That was so important to me and was huge example as well as sign that Chad was who I needed to marry. God has been such an important part of our relationship. I owe my marriage and happiness to the Lord, because with out His guidance I would not be where I am today. 

2: "In my mind, we can conquer the world, in love, you and I." 

I feel like this goes for anyone. With Chad we have overcome a lot in our first year of marriage. Obviously not as much as some couples go through (especially with time), but we have gone through challenges much like many couples do. However, no matter what we go through our love is what brings us back to a solid foundation. With school, starting a family, any doubts or questions we have, and so many other things, we cling on to our love for one another to get through it all. 

3: "I've found my strength in you."

Oh my goodness. I feel like this line is meant for me. There are so many times that I break down and crumble to feel like nothing just to be picked back up by Chad. My outlook on life and point of view of myself has been strengthened by this guy. I can go to him at any time and come away feeling stronger. He has been a huge help during the past seven and a half months of pregnancy. I don't know what I would be without him. 

Today reminds me of our wedding day. I think mostly because of the rain. haha :) I remember honestly telling Chad that it had better pour because we were doing the reception inside the church instead of outside at a members beautiful house. I wanted to feel justified in that.... and I totally was. Just before the reception it POURED! It was awesome. And actually lead for some pretty shots for chad and I with the blossoms all glistening. 

One of my favorite shots from our wedding. It is like a scene right from a movie.

So what has happened the past year?

Erik's Homecoming

MAY 2013

We got married

Moved into our place at Wymount

Started our lives together

Went to our friend Erik Ward's homecoming!

To the Sacred Grove!

JUNE 2013

Reception in New York
Church history sites adventures

Fun in the sun with our Pass of All Passes (which we haven't used a ton....)

JULY 2013

Visited Grandma in Grand Junction, CO

Kaitlin got her wisdom teeth out

Decision to move out of Wymount finalized

At LeVell Edwards Stadium

AUGUST 2013

We moved into our current place

Got ready for a new school year

SEPTEMBER 2013

School started
FOOTBALL SEASON! Ah man, we love football season, even though it rains and ruins phones and can be freezing, it is a blast!

The new picture... Aren't we just beautiful? 

OCTOBER 2013

We found out we were expecting!

Homecoming Spectacular performance with a recreation shot with Kayla and Emily (from our freshman year) and a new shot to close our experiences at BYU.

NOVEMBER 2013

Thanksgiving with the Clark's

Kaitlin's 22nd birthday

DECEMBER 2013

Semester Ended

Christmas with the Lanham's in CO

Chad met Adrianne and her family for the first time

First real train ride for Kaitlin

Rung in the new year with the Rogler's/Pickett's (Kayla and Evan with family on both of their sides)

My clothes, her clothes

JANUARY 2014

We found out we are having a girl!

New semester started

FEBRUARY 2014

Morgan came to visit from NY 

We got our
first (real) table. (We loved the one we had from Gillian and Kevin but we needed something easier with a child on the way and we got it at a steal of a deal at Ikea)

Kaitlin had 1 hour glucose test

28 weeks along... after the RH shot

We celebrated Mia's 2nd birthday with Gillian and Kevin, family and friends

MARCH 2014

Mostly baby stuff happened this month....

Kaitlin has her 3 hour glucose test.... passed with flying colors

Kaitlin suffered the RH shot at 28 weeks.

APRIL 2014
Chad's 22nd Birthday!

Had two ultrasounds to make sure Baby K's kidney's were going to be okay

Saw PAC perform at the Covey Center

Enjoyed Conference

Semester Ended

Bridal showers

Wedding receptions

Baby shower

Chad started working full time

It has been a busy year, that's for sure. It has been a year that we will always cherish. 

We have plans for the future of course and this coming year will bring some super great things, but we mostly know about the summer.... 

We get to welcome our first child into our family in six weeks (around).

We get to see Chad's family a lot this summer. YAY!

Lindsey, Dave, and Adrianne (my siblings) are all going to be out here this summer! YAY!

Over all we get a lot of family time this summer and couldn't be happier about that.

Unfortunately there is something super sad happening this summer for me. I have to say goodbye to my best friend Kayla. I don't know when I will see her again after they move. Evan got accepted to St. George's University for medical school in Grenada, West Indies which is awesome for them! I'm super happy for them, but it will be hard not having her here. Kayla has been the best friend I have ever had. However, I know that we will see each other again someday and will keep in contact often. I don't have a doubt about that. 

We are not expecting to move until Chad is done with school and finds a teaching job. We also are not planning on having another child before that time, mostly because we really can't fit two children in that one tiny room. Our next step would be to go to a place kind of like a town house. We are not looking to own a home for some time but would be wanting to go somewhere that would be a transition from an apartment to a house. Eventually we would get to a house but we don't want to do it right out of school and I don't think we would need to. 

Our future has a lot to behold and we say, BRING IT ON! 

I have been the happiest this past year because I have had the most magnificent man to share my life with. Thanks sweetie. I love you.

All my love to this man.

Here's to many years to come!

A Bit of an Update

The last two weeks have been busy for us and the next one will be just as insane.  Classes are over for the semester and today is the first day of finals. Unfortunately for Chad he has to take one every day. He has worked hard this semester and I am so proud of him.

Chad actually decided to change his minor from Physics Teaching to English Teaching this semester. It was a hard decision to make but it is a good one and, lucky for us, it doesn't change his graduation date! YAHOO! Between the two of us our choices for school and our desires have been kind of insane. Things like this always come up during the winter semester it seems. 

About two weeks ago I wrote a post about Kathrynne and some worries we were having about her kidneys. Well, good news is that she is fine. Everything leveled out and her kidneys look fine. The specialist was a jerk and I have never been treated so rudely by a doctor. That's saying something too considering I have been around doctors my whole life. Honestly, he is the type of doctors that we will be having due to the "Affordable" Care Act. It is just leaving so many people with nothing to do.

I am now 31 weeks along and showing a lot. I am small for how far a long I am, which kind of surprises me honestly. I am such a small person and don't really have room for a baby to grow but as I was reading about pregnancy things the other day on my What to Expect phone app (from the author of the book) it said that belly size really doesn't have much to do with how big the baby is. It is more about the build, size, and musculature of the mother. I guess all of those years of dance training and conditioning has paid off. ;) It also said some things about stretch marks. I must have high elasticity in my skin because I haven't had any stretch marks show up yet. Yay! I can't really complain much. My belly button is starting to pop out a bit, but not it will never pop through and become an outie belly button. My navel is extremely deep so it just looks a bit deformed and not as circular, but more oblong, as it has started to become pushed out by the baby. We are coming up on two months left! (She is due in two months tomorrow, but next Thursday makes for only 8 weeks left.) 

I have realized I am not the best blogger in the world but I am going to try and be better at that. 

From our last ultrasound on April 9, 2014

Updated Life List

I have updated the life list I posted last summer. I switched a few things and was able to say that I am in the process of some of them as well as cross off at least one.

1. Visit Scotland and Ireland in one trip
2. Learn to swim and love it (Working on it...)
3. Own a house
4. Get Married in the temple of the Lord
5. Have Children (JUNE!!)
6. Pay for someone's groceries 
7. Do the 12 days of Christmas for a family at least once
8. Grow my hair out to the middle of my back
9. Learn to play the Guitar
10. Learn to play the piano
11. Fill up a whole journal- hand written
12. Build a home with a wrap around porch with land (I don't want to see my neighbors bathroom)
13. Be a great cook/baker
14. Win a chili cook off or pie contest
15. Learn to make the best sugar cookies ever
16. Learn to sew really well
17. Ride horses with my husband (and not have him freak out)
18. Own a horse or two
19. Have a wonderful relationship with my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ (continually working on it)
20. Throw a huge, successful surprise party
21. Host a favorite things party
22. Go to Hawaii and see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona
23. See a broadway show
24. Go to a Sara Bareilles concert
25. Go to the rodeo with my husband
26. Watch my Children get married
27. Visit Barcelona, Budapest, and Sienna in another trip
28. Visit every temple in the United States, because come on, every temple in the world?
29. Get kissed at midnight on New Years Eve (midnight)
30. Meet Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith. Oh! And Emma Thompson
31. Have a mistletoe kiss
32. Own a nikon/cannon... Well a good DSLR in general
33. Learn how to drive a stick
34. Read Harry Potter to my children
35. See Cirque Du Solei
36. Have awesome in-laws
37. Be endowed
38. Become crafty and have a super cute decorated home
39. See all National Parks in Utah (I have seen none)
40. Go to the Sacred Grove
41. Go to Niagra Falls
42. Be a good mother
43. Make a great Thanksgiving meal
44. Make homemade pie crust and have it turn out well
45. Make homemade pizza
46. Tap with Nigel Lythgoe and Savion glover (I sort have done that.. I will be counting it)
47. Continue to dance through my life just because I love it
48. Try a cannoli (It wasn't as good as I thought... too thick of filling, like frosting, for me)
49. Stop being scared of needles (almost there!!! Drawing blood isn't bad, but shots are a different story haha)
50. Create a painting from paint in water balloons, like The Princess Diary's 

Chad's Birthday

It is this handsome man's birthday today! I am so happy that I was able to find him and that he has become my better half. I am so glad he was born so I could be eternally happy with him.

I love you Chad. Happy Birthday Sweetheart. Here is to many many years together.

Baby Kathrynne's Progress

Last week Chad and I went to my 28 week appointment. I asked something about if we would be doing ultrasounds from this point on. He looked at my last imaging results and we talked about something totally new to us. We found out that Baby K has a slightly smaller right kidney. Dr. Pace went on to tell us that it isn't anything super significant in size but we will be checking it out in another ultrasound to make sure the growth is up to par to the left side.

Today was that day.

I was feeling pretty good about it. I was sure that she would have caught up by then. She was measuring two days later than my due date in our first ultrasound and now she is right with me at 28 weeks 5 days. She was not however up to date with her kidneys. Her right kidney is still smaller than her left. It is not very significant but still a problem.

At our doctors appointment it was explained to us that the smaller kidney was not a huge thing to be worried about at this point, however if it continues to be small for the rest of the pregnancy and after delivery it could pose possible future problems like kidney failure of the small kidney.

I was not so prepared to have her kidney still be smaller today. What mother ever wants to have that in the back of her mind? Who wants to have that on their shoulders knowing that one day I may need to make that decision with her and my husband to get a new kidney? That is just not something I have been prepared for.

We just hope that the Lord watches over her and that we will have more peace of mind to prepare for it if anything does happen.

In other news, she is doing well. Her heart rate is going strong and she loves to move around inside. She actually brought her feet up to her face and started playing with her toes. It was super cute to see her play around. I can't wait for her to be here so we can play together.

At 20 Weeks:

So here I am at 20 weeks, halfway through this pregnancy. The last four weeks have gone by extremely slow with the anticipation that we would be finding out the gender at 19 1/2 weeks. A lot has gone on but it isn't that exciting and it is mostly just the day to day stuff that we do.

On Monday (January 27) we went to the main clinic that Central Utah Clinic has here in Provo for our ultrasound. Well we are for sure having a little beautiful and probably stubborn from the looks (and movements....) of it, baby GIRL! We called it. There is something to this whole mother's intuition. There must be. I knew all along that my first child would be a girl, for many other reasons too yes, but mothers intuition has got to play a part in it to some extent right?

There have been a few adventures during the pregnancy, but there is one that I hate....
Pregnancy Update:
How far along am I? I am twenty weeks! Halfway there. Crazy to think that huh? How are you feeling? Pretty good. I get a lot of what they call round ligament pain due to growing. So in other words I feel great other than my darn growing pains. 😊 Any cravings or aversions? Not many aversions other than a lot of sweets and Chocolate. I have always loved Mexican food and this pregnancy has just made it more prominent. Anything spicy and Mexican and I generally will be happy. What do you do for exercise? Other than my daily walk to work I don't really get to do much. That walk keeps me on my toes as it is.

Speaking of that walk.... there are a lot of awesome things that have been happening during this semester and pregnancy, however walking to work has not been fun. It is the scariest moment of my life every single day that I walk out that door. Especially on days like today too. After a day of rain and then a wet snow with some more sun to help melt it down in the past two days, it has created a lot of ice... and s lot of black ice.

I gotta tell ya, there is nothing more scary than the feeling of slipping on ice. Now normally it wouldn't be that scary, but when you have a baby to think about, keep healthy, and to protect, falling is the absolute scariest thing that could happen to me this semester. The hard thing is that I don't use the car unless Chad is sick and doesn't go to work at six am... which has only happened once. So every morning I get up and get ready just to leave at 7:30 am to get to work at 8. Yeah. It is a half hour walk, and a mixture of up hill and down hill.

Can you see my terror every day? Ugh. I sure can't wait for the spring weather to come and stay for good because I am tired of the freezing temperatures in the morning and mixed weather during the main part of the day. I think mostly I am just ready to not be scared to walk a measly 1.2 miles.

Delynne Peay

Today I woke up and got ready like any other day. I was about to head out the door when all the sudden a wave of morning sickness came over me. To the toilet I went. Ten minutes later and basically having to put all my makeup on again, I was finally out the door to head to work. I still wasn't feeling very great but I had to go. I don't know how but I made the walk in twenty minutes instead of the normal thirty. I didn't change my pace or anything but I just shaved ten minutes off of the morning commute for me somehow.

I got to work, still feeling like I should have been back in bed or over the toilet, and did the check run with Emerson, like every other morning (Tuesday's and Thursday's at least). Once check run was finished I snatched my massive bag of Goldfish snacks and sat down to scan some of the documents for the day that were of a higher priority.

While I was waiting for a particularly large batch to index (basically it is just uploading to a site online where we can manage it and view it), I decided to snag a few minutes on Facebook. As soon as I opened it up the first post stopped me dead in my tracks. My friend Deborah Mann had put it up.

Tonight, I, along with a world of Folk Dancers, am in mourning. We lost a giant, a friend, a teacher, director, mentor, and all around wonderful woman today. 
I would say rest in peace, Delynne Peay, but you never rested in this life, so I know you are already busy at work in the next.

I started bawling. I couldn't believe it. "No, she was doing better. Her oxygen levels were getting better. She is too stubborn to leave! No," I thought, over and over again.  I went down on my news feed and there was post after post expressing love and remorse for this beloved woman. 

For those that may not know why I am so torn up about this particular loss here is a background of who Delynne Peay is, and was for not just me, but for thousands of others that came through the BYU Folk Dance program.

The summer of 2011 was the summer that I got to know Delynne. She was in charge of the Backup Folk Dance Ensemble for the coming fall semester (Fall 2011). There was going to be a workshop help the week before classes started. It was a workshop but also the audition. I was intimidated by Delynne at first. I didn't know her at all and was just a bit scared. I had never really done anything like this before. I was talking with one of my friends, Thomas Call, about it and he suggested that I become a TA for the beginning world dance class that summer. Delynne was teaching it. It didn't cost and wasn't a credit. It was all volunteer back then. I thought that would be great and I would be a TA with Thomas and I would get to know Delynne and her me, right before workshop. 

That ended up being the best summer. I was a TA for Delynne, that beginning class specifically, twice because of that. She trusted me, she saw my dancing ability before the masses came (there were a lot of people at that workshop... It was a little overwhelming), and I ended up being on that Fall 2011 Backup team. I learned so much that semester and my dancing ability was starting to change. 

I asked Delynne how I could improve and she said, "You need to melt into the style." To sum it up, don't look like a contemporary dancer. When doing a Russian dance, look Russian; and Israeli dance, look Israeli, ect. I needed to look the part and to look for the little nuances that made that country's dance style unique. With her help I started to do that. I got close to Delynne that semester, but even closer when I was on SPAC (Spring Performing Arts Company) the next semester. 

Oh man. Those were the best and hardest months of my life. I have never had so much fun and learned so much about myself and the people that I was representing in those dances. I became not just the American I am, but a Moldovan, a Yemenite woman, a Ukrainian woman, and a saucy Mexican woman, all within 45 minutes to an hour. 

Delynne was such a key part of my growth that year. That was the year that Chad was on his mission, the most financially challenging year of my life, and an incredible spiritual year. Delynne just let you talk to her. I have these two notes that she would write to people. I remember feeling overwhelmed one day and so stressed out about a lot of things in my life, just to get one of these notes. I kept them and I always will. 

So what do you say about a woman that has helped me grow so much? How do you thank her for being your second mom practically? Because of her I knew that I could never settle for anything less than what I deserved, in many aspects of my life, not just in who I marry. 

I have been trying to think of what to say all day about Delynne Peay. How do you say thank you to such a woman? Delynne has helped me learn so much about who I am and what I stand for. She helped me solidify certain aspects of my life. She saw potential in me as a person and a dancer, potential that I hadn't seen in myself in years. She taught me how to love so deeply with out a second thought. Delynne was much more than a dance teacher to me and thousands more. She was a mentor, a friend, a shoulder to lean on, a testimony to grow from, a mother away from home, and so much more. My mind is completely baffled that she is not on this mortal earth anymore, but I know that she is watching out for her loved ones and is no longer in any pain. Keep dancing. Keep smiling. And thank you for being such a wonderful light in my life. The BYU Folk Dance program will not be the same with out you. Bless that baby (boy or girl) in the next five months for me and send them with a hug and a kiss. I love you Delynne.

I wrote this on my Facebook about an hour ago. 

Today started out bad by throwing up and not feeling physically all to great, but after a turn of sad events, I think I am just grateful for the years that I was able to know Delynne.

Bless that baby (boy or girl) of mine before they are sent down to me. 

The SPAC 2012 girls at the Oquirrah Mountain Temple.

Keep dancing for us Delynne! We love you!