Mario and One Seriously Impressive Gingerbread House

We didn't post any pictures of Halloween this year, but it is still definitely worth doing.. even a couple months late. Derek and his fellow student athletic trainers/athletic trainers who all worked in the BYU dance training room this semester decided to do a Mario theme for Halloween. Derek - the only boy- was Mario and there was also a Bowser, Yoshi, Toad, Princess Peach, and maybe one or two more. They did a great job! They didn't stop with just their costumes though - oh no! They actually made a Mario Kart track right there in the training room and had races and listened to classic Mario tunes all day. My costume was simple and last minute. I decided to make my belly a pumpkin. I posted several pictures. Enjoy!

So in this picture we have (left to right) Bowser, Mario, Yoshi, and Toad


Here is our lovely Princess Peach


Mario and myself :)

The pumpkin

On December 6th Derek's siblings came over to watch the Christmas Devotional and to make gingerbread houses. It was so much fun! We actually only ended up making one gingerbread, but it was really elaborate and cool. Here are some pics of it. Prepare to be impressed :D


The front wall was done by Alisha and the yard was a team effort of several of us


The roof and the cute little chimney were done by Chelsea and Santa's sleigh was Alisha's masterpiece :)


This was Derek's side of the house


This was Jake's side - I love how detailed his windows are!


I did the back of house. Jake added the lovely wreath and bow - what a great touch!


Here's the finished product! The detail we put into it is kind of insane, but it turned out so good! I love the snow (powdered sugar) and the ice-cicles (i don't know how to spell that) around the edges. We made a little fence out of gummies, a gate with the mini candy canes, the path is made of red hots, and we have a rock wall that goes all the way around made of nerds. We made several little shrubs and trees as well. So fun!! I wish I had actually taken pictures of everyone who was there... a bit of an oversight.

It's been way too long!!

Well, the semester has officially ended. Today was Derek's last final. I've had it super easy and only had to finish a research paper. It's nice to have him home with me now. The semester went really well. Derek seemed to do really well - it seems like everytime he took a test the result would be 90% and up. Smartie pants. :) I got a part-time job at Macy's at University Mall and actually ended up working on Black Friday. It wasn't bad actually.. I'm sure working at Target or Wal-Mart would have been WAY worse. Derek has been crazy busy with going to school full-time, doing his clinical experience with the BYU dance department (which is like a part-time job), and working part-time at the MTC as an athletic trainer. He's really enjoyed working there. When he isn't helping an injured missionary he gets to play basketball, volleyball etc. Lucky kid! With such a busy schedule as he's had it's really great he's been able to get some exercise.

The last leg of my pregnancy has really been wonderful. I really can't remember what it was like to not be pregnant! It's so cool to see her and feel her move around. There have been some unexpected developments in that area. For those who haven't heard our full story of the past week I'll go ahead and share it. It's an exciting story :)

Me at 34 weeks (today)

Well, I had my 33 week ultrasound last Tuesday at my doctor's office and the tech said the baby's abdomen was measuring a little small. So, just to be safe, they set up an appointment for me to see the ultrasound specialist at the hospital the next day. So, we went in and she ended up measuring just fine - Yay! However, the guy happened to notice some evidence of dilation. So he took a closer look and sure enough he said I looked dilated about 1 cm! I'm not even full-term yet, so that was a shock. They sent us down to labor and delivery to do some tests, where they found out that I had actually dilated 3cm, I'm 80% effaced, and I tested positive for fetal fiberonectin, which is the "labor hormone." Shortly thereafter I started having somewhat painful contractions only a few minutes apart. They hooked me up to some magnesium sulfate, which, after several hours, slowed the contractions waaaay down - maybe 1 an hour. They gave me steroids (ouch!) to speed up baby's lung development as well. And so, what was supposed to be a simple checkup turned into a 2-day stay at the hospital. They sent me home on Friday with some more meds to keep the contractions at bay and an order to stay in bed for the next couple weeks. So, the question now is: when is she going to come? Well, on Christmas eve I will be 35 weeks along, which is considered full-term. If we can make it there it would be nice. Of course, the most ideal situation, and which happens to be entirely possible, is for her to wait another 6 weeks until the due date. So the answer is: we have no idea!! :) Exciting, yes! A teeny bit scary, yes! But only because I wasn't expecting it to happen yet.. I hadn't prepared myself for it. haha. She will be just fine if she comes now, but let's hope she gives herself a little more time to fatten up! :D

Tri-annual update....yeah, we're good!

Overview:
Many many things.

Since moving to Provo we've settled into a new house, I'm in my final year and Kori's still chipping away at ASL. I now have a job and a clinical internship so I'm staying very busy.

Kori still babysits for the family in Springville but is looking for anther small job for a couple hours every week.

We've had it confirmed 3 times that baby Hayden is going to be a girl too! Just look at that belly! At our first ultrasound the doctor said that she was measuring normal for everything but her femur, it was about a week smaller than the rest of her. This months visit was with a new doctor and so they did another ultrasound where everything was even and it put her right on track for her January 27th due date. Can it be? Am I really going to be a dad? Crazy!

Fun on the Farm

So, I have promised this post for some time now. And two days before we depart.. here it is! The pictures will consist of our cottage, our garden, Barkley (the dog hehe), and various projects Derek has done on the farm this summer (most of which are cement, cement, and more cement).

The Cottage

Here's me in the kitchen.. makin somethin..

Our bedroom.. so that's all the pics we took. haha I thought we took more oops. Our house is in disarray from the move.. so I'll take a few more right before we head out.



The Garden

This is a picture of our garden at the beginning of July, I think

This is a picture of it now!

We planted this grass here in June and now it looks great

We planted this grass in July and it doesn't look great. haha. If you look closely you can see patches of grass on the left side

Barkley

This is Barkley aka Brown, Dog, Barkles, etc. He LOVES Derek. He follows him everywhere.. it's so cute. We took a ridiculous number of pictures and videos of him this summer.. probably preparing us for the adorable things our little baby will do and all the pictures we will take.

I have unsuccessfully tried to download a couple videos of him. Maybe my internet is too slow. I'll try again later :)

Various Projects

Here's the rest of his parent's sidewalk that they poured. The first half was done last summer.

This was poured last summer (sorry it's blurry)

Derek has been working on this the whole week (and it was HOT outside), and it's finally ready for concrete! So this pad is going to be used to put huge containers full of chemicals (weed killers and such) on.

These are the huge, chemical-filled containers.

If ever those containers should burst or crack open, the chemicals would flow into this pit. Preventing them from seeping into the ground and hopefully salvaging what they can. Brilliant idea I think. Hopefully, the containers will never break open and they will never need this, but brilliant for "just in case."

The floor of this shed was their first cement project of the summer. It took them about a month to complete. This is where they park their semis, combines, and whatever else will fit when it's not being used for long periods of time. The floor used to just be dust. Funny story about this shed. When Derek and I were first dating he came back to the farm during an extended weekend from school to help out on a project. He told me his dad, brothers, and himself were building a shed. I thought, "cute. a little shed for lawn mowers and such." I pictured a little wooden building and a group of men hammering away. I did NOT picture a massive building that would require cranes to complete. But when Derek brought me here to meet the folks he pointed out his shed. I laughed out loud. :) It still makes me laugh to remember how nonchalant he was about having built this shed over his break.

This was another cement project. I don' t know what these tall bins on stilts are called or what their exact purpose is, but they are amongst the grain bins, and I'm sure have something to do with sorting the wheat.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the pink table. I call it pink because that's what it used to be. We should have taken a before picture, but we never did. :( The table used to be chipped, faded, and light pink. Derek has stripped the paint, sanded it (that alone took all summer), and stained it. Isn't it pretty?! He did a great job! I think it turned out great! If we find a picture with this table in it from its pink days we will post it.

A Fun Family-Filled Week

So, last Tuesday Derek and I set off for Utah to go camping with my parents and brother's family. We stayed the night at Chelsea and Jake's. They are letting us stay at their house again for a few days next week too. UVU starts on Wednesday and we can't move in to our house until Friday. BYU housing doesn't take UVU into account, which is fine. We're just lucky we have wonderful family down there!

Anyway, Wednesday morning we took off for Ephraim. We met up with my fam, ate lunch, and left for Palisades, which is a pretty camp ground with a big lake and golf course and stuff. I was excited because the weather man said it was supposed to be in the 70s! perfect! But it was soooo windy! And I doubt it was in the 70s for very long.. at least it didn't feel like it. Derek and I couldn't set up our tent until the wind died down! It kept caving in on itself, so we had to take it down until night time.

It was so fun though! We played cornhole, bochey (sp?) ball, croquet, and the boys went golfing. The lake was way pretty, but the water was kinda cold (for my taste). We never ended up going swimming or renting canoes, which is fine cause I would have been freezing. My niece Jenna LOVED the water! It was so cute.

Our rolls looked like lips.. as these goofballs are demonstrating


My Mom and Dad playing croquet

My adorable niece Jenna and I

The pretty lake :)

Ryan striking a victory pose after finishing a grueling game of croquet :)




Ryan, Cindy, and Jenna


All tuckered out



There are a few pics from our trip. It was soooo fun!!! When Derek and I were driving back up to Idaho we stopped in Provo, and Derek was able to set up a last-minute interview for a job at the Missionary Training Center that he'd been looking into. He said he felt pretty good about it. We're crossing our fingers! It's the perfect job and fits his schedule perfectly! We'll find out in a couple days.

Back up in Arbon we had a lot of Haydens come and visit. Chelsea, Jake, and their son, Grant. Britton, Amber, and their kids: Julianne, Becca, and Josh. And Alisha just got back from her summer in Ecuador! All the Hayden kids except for Logan. It was so neat! Then on Sunday our aunt Lori and some of her kids came to visit. They are dropping off their daughter Amy at BYU.

This was a huge post, but it was so unique to be able to see so many of our family in less than a week! I am so grateful for all of them. I couldn't ask for better people to spend eternity with. :)

Dancing in the Moonlight... and it was cold!

So my friend Shancy and I are the Young Women leaders in our Branch. As a value experience/project for our 1 young woman, we were planning a Valley-wide dance for Aug 7 (yesterday). Unfortunately, we found out too late that our 1 young woman couldn't make it. But we went with plans anyway. We got the invites out kinda late, so we weren't planning a lot of people to come. Plus the county fair is this weekend, where a lot of people in the valley would be in order to sell their animals. And then! It started to thunder and lightening only hours before the OUTDOOR dance was supposed to start. We were planning to have the dance under the pavilion across from our church. It doesn't rain in Arbon in August. It did. And it hailed, which did a little damage to some crops here and there :(. Thankfully, the sun came out just in time for the dance to start. And people came. Lots of people. More than I'd planned there to be. It was wonderful. And Derek and I, who at one time many moons ago were ballroom dance partners, had a blast remembering our moves. The pavilion was decorated in pretty twinkly lights and we had rootbeer floats and played different oldies to dance to. It was a great time! And as long as you were dancing, it wasn't too cold. :)

Most sadly, Derek and I, who recently bought a digital camera, forgot to take ANY pictures of the event. Not one! So sad. It's a habit we need to get in to.

It's been raining all morning so far! This is such a rare occurence for these parts. Poor guys and Kieley are out there pouring concrete and cleaning the grain bins in the cold rain. Such troopers!

Soon to come: I'll post pics of our pretty little cottage and somewhat flourishing garden.. maybe today. :D

We did it!

So I (Kori) created this blog last October, but, aside from adding a template and a cute picture, I didn't touch it again until today! Let me tell you.. it was kinda difficult. I'm not exactly "computer smart" so it took me forever to figure it all out. Luckily my wonderful sister-in-law Chelsea was able to help me work out some of the confusion. Thanks Chels!

As for updates, Derek and I are having a baby in January!!!!! And we are again spending our summer in beautiful Arbon, Idaho where he grew up. He has been super busy on the farm helping his uncle and dad and I have been working VERY part-time at a shop in Pocatello called "The Purple Moon." It's a very eclectic store, but it's been pretty cool. The second day after I was hired the owner had me run the whole store by myself.. all day. Yeah, kinda scary, but I really enjoyed myself (and I had to call him pretty much everytime a customer had a question).

I got to go back to my homeland (Illinois) for a short visit last month with my dad and Jess Nelson. I got to see a few of my closest friends from high school, lots of my Ferree family, and I also got to spend a day in Nauvoo. It was only a 4 day stay in Illinois, so I wasn't able to see A LOT of people, but it was great to see some of them. My grandma drove back with us, and spent a week in Utah with my folks. It was a fun trip.... long drive... but fun.