December So Far...

Its only December 10th but so far its been a crazy busy month and crazy fun! I love this time of year!! I am not going to lie its different here in the South then it is back in Utah. Nick is still wearing shorts most days. I wear my caprices a lot still. When I am home I make sure my Christmas tree lights are on and the scentsy is on so it feels more like Christmas. I had to buy Peppermint Ice Cream too. ha But even though we are surrounded by palm trees or should I say Palmetto Trees. And there isn't any snow (which I love) I still feel the Christmas spirit. I still feel so grateful for our Savior.

It wasn't December 1st yet but I begged Nick to let us put up our Christmas tree. Its a lot smaller than our old one. But I love it! It fits our apartment perfectly. And I am so grateful for my parents getting it for us. And my parents gave us a new ornament to add to our tree. I love it. So Nick and I put on The Santa Clause as we set up the tree. I love that movie!  A few days later we had our ward Christmas party. It was a morning party which I liked. There was cookie decorating. Yummy hot chocolate with lots of different hot chocolate toppings. And Santa was there. We were served breakfast and the primary children sang. It was a lot of fun. I am so grateful for this ward. Words can't express how grateful. I am so grateful for the friendships I have made. These girls in my ward are my support system. They are my sanity!! I would be such a basket case without them. They are constantly thinking of me and helping me. Anyway after the party Nick went to study. And I went shopping with some friends. I personally didn't buy anything. But I was happy to get out of the house and enjoyed the company.

Nick only has 2 finals left yay!! We plan to live it up the next few weeks! Sleeping in, watching movies,  exploring Charleston, and attending any Christmas activities that Charleston has to offer. His mom and brother will be here in a week or two to play with us. Its going to be a good December!!

Finishing Touches

Oh Christmas Tree

Some of the girls from the ward

The Craguns in Carolina

So I was not supposed to find out the gender of the baby until December 2nd. Its the policy of my doctors office to wait until 20 weeks. But my parents were coming to town for Thanksgiving and my mom wanted to know for her visit. So her and my dad paid for an early ultrasound. And its a girl! Nick had never been to an ultrasound before so I basically watched him the whole time. His eyes were wide and he had this sparkle in his eyes. You could just see the excitement and love on his face. He thinks that the baby has my nose.... I think he is right. Nick has always said that he doesn't care girl or boy. But when we found out its a girl his response was priceless. He said, "I am so glad.... I always wanted to a have girl....You know daddy's little girl". We opened the envelope of pictures telling us the gender at dinner with my parents and Levi their first night here.

They got here late Saturday because of weather delays. So we had dinner and hung out at the apartment. They brought me one of my favorite treats chocolate covered cinnamon bears. They don't sell them here!! The next day we went to church. I actually had to speak in church on Sunday. After we had Sunday dinner we headed to downtown Charleston and Battery Park. There is so much history and so much to see there that we had to take them there. We walked around the Battery while me and Nick played tour guide and gave them the history of the Battery.

Monday I had to work and Nick had school. Luckily our friend Tiffany took my mom around running errands while we were gone. My mom got us a Christmas Tree!!  Along with other things we needed. But after work we went to the outlet. After some outlet exploring we had dinner at Hometeam BBQ. Tuesday morning we woke up early. We went on a carriage tour. They are so much fun! You learn so much. There is so much history in Charleston. After the tour we went to lunch and did some souvenir shopping. Then I went to work. After work we had dinner at Swig and Swine. I love that place. Then we came home and relaxed. Wednesday once I got off work we picked up Nick from school. Then we went to the Downtown Market and walked around King Street. The market was established in 1804! Once again so much history here in Charleston. Then we went to a late lunch early dinner at Pages Okra. Such yummy food! After dinner the boys all took a nap and me and my mom went shopping.

Thanksgiving day we woke up and helped my dad prepare Thanksgiving dinner. It was so yummy. And we have so many leftover! After dinner was all cleaned up we went to Folley Beach. We spent a good amount of time at the beach. After the beach we went and got ice cream at Ye Ole Fashioned Ice Cream. They have such good ice cream. Then we went back and relaxed at our place. A little later me, Nick, and my mom went to Wal-Mart, Target, and Kids R US to look at black Friday deals. We didn't buy anything. Once we got back we had pie. We had so much pie!!

Unfortunately bright and early 4:30 am Friday we were heading to the airport to drop off my family. It sucked. But I am so grateful that I got to see my family even if it was just for a short time. I am also so grateful for my family. Nick is such an amazing husband. Always looking out for me and my wants and needs. My Siblings and parents thinking of me and Nick taking care of us when we need it the most. My in-laws also so thoughtful towards me and Nick. Doing everything they can to make sure we have what we need even though we are miles and miles away. We are so blessed.

Rainbow Row

The Battery 

YUMMY

Swig and Swine 

Sleepy Nicky

Folley Beach

Feeling The Love

Guys I have said this before and I am saying it yet again... we are so blessed and we have the best family!! We are across the country from our family but they are constantly thinking of us.  I love getting post cards, letters, drawings, and cards from our family. They make me so happy. I hang all drawings and post cards on our fridge. Its getting pretty full and I don't mind. Keep them coming! Not only do they send us letters but also care packages. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate everything we receive. Seriously I have no words. 

Package from Andys family 

The crafts I made with the stuff Jenny sent me

Package from Nicks grandparents

From Nicks mom

A Random Post About Life Lately

Nick is still really busy. Monday -Friday he has 12+ hour days. Saturday he has 8+ hour days filled with studying. Sounds fun for him right? We do make time for some fun ha. Recently our "date night" was frozen pizza and cotton candy ice cream while watching Netflix. We love cotton candy anything in our house and pizza so it was pretty perfect.  We also got the chance to explore Kings Street. Its a popular place here in Charleston. This is where Nick fell in love with pralines.

I have a part time job nannying for a little 6 month old girl. She is usually pretty happy and easy going. And I come home from work smelling like baby... I can think of worse things to smell like.

The other day after church I come out of the bathroom with the freezer door wide open. I said to Nick, "Really you left the door open." No response. So I started to look for him. As I am looking I am calling out his name. Couldn't find him anywhere. And he wasn't responding. So I go to look down the stairs by our front door to see if he had left... And there he was hiding eating cookie dough! He looked up at me like a little boy that is in trouble. I just started to laugh. He says, "Just wait until there is two of me." I might be in big trouble. ha

The other night as me Nick were sitting there watching TV I am 90% sure I felt the baby kick. It just felt like someone poked me. Not too hard but hard enough that it was very distinct and I said to Nick, "Holy crap! I think I just felt the baby!"

Its November!! We are still wearing shorts and sandals most days. Sunday was the coldest its been... it was in the 60s.  But I love November and the feeling in the air from now until the New Year.  The feeling of gratitude, love, hope, and Christ. I read this quote the other day and had to share:
"This is a wonderful time to be on earth. While there is much that is wrong in the world today, there are many things that are right and good. There are marriages that make it, parents who love their children and sacrifice for them, friends who care for us and help us, teachers who teach. Our lives are blessed in countless ways. " President Monson.

Nick enjoying his cookie dough

Exploring Charleston 

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I have said it before and I will say it again... Nick and I lucked out. I truly believe it was divine intervention that landed us in our apartment complex and in this ward. Not only has the weather not effected us but we have the best neighbors and ward members.

There is three other Mormon couples in our apartment complex. What are the odds? There are so many apartments, town homes etc. and we picked this one. And these couples welcomed us with open arms. All the husbands are attending MUSC. So they know what me and Nick are going through. And I love that we get to have "Sunday family dinners" with them.

I am so grateful for the other ward members I have got to know and befriend. Hanging out by the pool, walking around the mall, girls nights, etc. Its so nice having people to do things with and hangout with especially when Nick is super busy.

This weekend my gratitude for these people is overwhelming. Stacie had her 3rd baby girl yesterday. And it makes me sad that I have no idea when I will be able to meet her... hopefully Christmas 2016. But last night we were able to go to dinner with some families in the ward. And got to watch some of the BYU game together. And then today we went to Legare Farms with a bunch of friends from the ward. There were hay rides, a pumpkin patch, animals to feed, a corn maze, and more fall activities. It was a lot of fun. Just hanging out with friends spending some time with Nick (boy I miss him) was just what I needed. Then the cherry on top... I was at home after all the fun making one of my favorite things... Sanpete Turkey. When a friend from the ward stopped by to bring us some cookies! Nick and I have been in many different wards as a married couple. But none of them have been like this. I am so grateful, I can't say it enough!

The newest member of our family

Russ and Nick ( Legare Farms)

The Girls 

Weather

So we get a lot of flash flood warnings here... I mean a lot. Because it doesn't rain here... it pours. Well maybe 3 weeks ago its about 1 am and our phones go off. It was another weather notifaction. Nick and I both wake up and read the alert expecting it to be yet another flash flooding warning. Nope. Tornado warning. Well we figured there wasn't much we could do at this point. We are in a small apartment. If we need to we can go the bathtub and thats about it. So we go back to bed. It was hard to sleep because the wind was so loud. And the lightning was lighting up our bedroom with our blinds closed. I wake up the next morning and see all over my Facebook that a tornado did in fact hit and it was about 3 miles away from us. Luckily no one was hurt. But a few houses were destroyed.

Fast forward a weekish. The rain comes.... and comes... and comes. Something to know about Charleston, its below sea level. So when it rains it floods. And boy did it flood. South Carolina was in a state of emergency. And because of that Nicks classes were canceled. There were power outages. Peoples water became contaminated. There were coffins floating around. The hospital staff couldn't leave work because no one could get to work to replace them. People were using canoes and boats to get around instead of their cars. And sadly people lost their homes and people died. The rain just wouldn't stop. Rain, floods, and power outages lasted for over a week. Nick and I lucked out.We truly feel so blessed. Our apartment complex wasn't really effected. The complex next to us had to be evacuated by boat. Charleston and the rest of South Carolina is now in the processes of cleaning up. People are still in shelters and a lot of homes still don't have drinkable water. Business are destroyed. This one place in particular has been open for years. A major tourist attraction where some of The Notebook was filmed is now closed. They have no idea if and when they will open. The flood damage is just too much.  A lot of people have lost their jobs. Its just so sad. But boy do I feel blessed.

The past few weeks has taught me the importance of food storage and a 72 hour kit. Nick and I need to be better at that.

Oh just a coffin floating around

This is just the fist day of rain

Also just the first day of rain

The produce section after a week of
flooding...

Yeah they had no produce...

Happy Birthday Nicky!!

This year Nicks birthday was pretty lame. He had a test the next day so he didn't want to celebrate on his actual birthday. So... September 9th (his actual birthday) went like this: Nick woke up and went to school. Came home. We had a small dinner then he opened his dumb presents. He didn't want me to get him anything. I can't do that. So I got him a big bag of Sour Patch Kids... he loves Sour Patch Kids. And I got him pumpkin spice latte M&Ms. After opening his gifts he studied. Then we went to bed.

The next day wasn't much better... After he got home from school we had dinner. I had him pick the meal he wanted. He chose Philly Steak Sandwiches. I have made these like 100 times. But for some reason these batch was the best batch ever. It tasted so good. At first I thought it was in my head but then Nick said, "Did you do something different? They are always good but this time they are just better." I didn't do anything different, I'm hoping next time I make them they are that good. So I didn't make a cake for Nick. We aren't big cake eaters. And I knew that if I made a cake we would throw a lot of it away. So instead I made one of Nicks favorite desserts.... Apple Dumplings. I don't think they lasted 3 days, we ate those like they were going out of style! After we ate the Apple Dumplings we watched some Hawaii Five-0 on Netflix and then went to bed.

I didn't get any pictures this year. And I feel terrible about it. I even told Nick how sorry I was that I didn't get any pictures. His response... "What, pictures of me studying?" I still feel bad not just about the pictures but that his whole birthday was so.... blah. But when you have no money and not a whole lot of time away from school this is what your birthday looks like. Hopefully I can make it up to him next year.

Happy Birthday Nick! I'm so glad you were born. "Of all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you."

Our first month in the Low Country

We got our apartment all put together. It took some creativity to figure out where to put everything... but I think we figured it out. Now if we could just find our 2 boxes of unopened Q-Tips...

We went to the beach as much as possible. We both love the beach. I love listening to the waves crash. Its just so relaxing. Luckily we have lots of beaches to chose from.

Sullivans Island

Isle Of Palms

Folly Island

Explored. We drove around Charleston and all the different islands. We discovered fruit stands, parks, plantations, etc. The Angel Oak is one of the things we discovered. Its the oldest known Oak tree in North America. It is over 400 years old. And its pretty awesome. 

Angel Oak

We experienced NASCAR. Nick is the type of person that 1. Wants to try everything at least once. 2. Wants to experience different cultures and traditions. I think thats why he loves to travel so much. And thats why he wanted to go to a NASCAR race. It was different. So many people!! We ran into a really nice couple while we were parking. I am so grateful to them. They helped us find where to go. They gave us tips...1. Ear plugs. 2. Keep wallet in your front pocket. 3. Keep your personal belongs in your eye site at all times. Luckily we got tickets in the family sections where they can't drink.... because this couple also told us that people will throw beer when they get mad. They also told us that NASCAR is a week event. They have parades and tailgate. And a lot of the people tailgating don't actually go to the race they just go to party. On our way out we ran into them again. And they invited us to go to the race with them next year. All I can say is out of all the people I saw there 80% looked homeless. The race hadn't even started yet.. heck we weren't even in the gates yet when Nick and I saw a lady pee her pants! And she didn't even care she was so drunk. I am so glad we don't drink. 

Fort Sumter with my aunt and uncle. My aunt Shanna and uncle Don went on a month long road trip. They made stops all along the way visiting family. They just spent a half day in Charleston. We went to Fort Sumter a fort in the Civil War. It is an island and it was pretty cool. After Fort Sumter we went to dinner and off they went to Virginia. Nick couldn't come with us because of school. 

One month of school done... only 27 more to go.