Our big accomplishments

Ok so these big accomplishments of Trav's and I are not that great, but we were both proud of ourselves. I accomplished making yummy homemade wheat bread all by myself and Trav caught a fish. For Christmas Trav's parents gave us a nice wheat ginder, wheat, and all the supplies to make Peggy's yummy bread. I was excited but then made the mistake of telling Trav I couldn't make the bread unless i had a nice Bosch like his mom's. So my birthday rolls around and guess what i got. Yep, a nice Bosch to make bread in. Trav was so excited. When i was opening it he said, "This is the gift that keeps on giving. . . well for me." So I thought well i better learn how to do this i have no excuses now of why i can't. So i went over a few weeks ago and Peggy taught me how. I wrote down everything, because i really wanted to get it right. Then last week i attempted to do by myself. And it went really well, and the bread tasted great. I took some down to my family and they loved it. Trav was the most excited, he is a bread man and almost ate the whole loaf. They don't look as good as Peggy's do, but hopefully with a little practice i will get it down.

We went down to Malad last weekend for the last trip down without a baby (thats crazy). We had a great time just hanging out. While i went and got a pedicure (thanks heidi) Trav finally got to go ice fishing. He has been wanting to go, and Bridger is really into it, so they went up to Crowthers and Trav caught the biggest fish. Bridger was showing him how to do it and then said Trav lets try a new whole and Trav pulled up a 16 in rainbow. He was pretty proud and Bridger was mad that he let Trav take the new whole. They had a great time!

Prego Pictures

I know it has been forever since i have posted anything, but every picture i have, i just think i am too big to put that picture up on the blog. I have lots of friends prego right now and they are all posting cute pictures of themselves, and well you know how it is i just feel huge. Trav keeps saying your pregnant you are suppose to be big (he is ready to have his non pregnant wife back). But Beth sent me some pictures from my shower in Feb. Jake has been wanting to see what Heidi and i look like big and fat together, so we took this horrible back to back picture and emailed it to him, and all he said was that was the sickest thing i have ever seen (he didn't get a very good Valentines package...jk) It has been fun to be so close with Heidi in our pregnancies and to see how much we really do look like each other is it crazy. The picture of Brynlee is so hilarous, she has been really into this pregnant thing, and is always touching my tummy and talking to baby E. The other day she came into Beth and said, "mom now i look like Hailee and Heidi." (Notice the toes pop, she is miss model, and the bad thing is kids are so honest, and she really thinks we look that big.) She is so cute. The rest of the pictures are for those of you who won't leave me alone about posting pregnant pictures. I took the one yesterday so you have been updated and i hope to not get any bigger. She is still moving a lot though, so I am afraid she is still growing. . . but thats ok. We just hope she is doing well and can't wait to see her. Trav is really getting excited, and I am so glad he is going to be the daddy of my children because he has really been into the grandkids lately and is so good with them. Life is good, we are excited and ready for life to begin with this new little angel coming our way!!

Its a Girl!

As most of you know because Trav sent out a text minutes after we found out, we are having a sweet little girl in April. It was really neat to see the ultrasound and try and understand what body parts are what and how is that thing living inside me. Trav picked out that it was a girl before the doctor even said anything, and I still don't know if i ever saw or understood what i was looking for. We are just so grateful she is healthy and moving right along. It was funny the doctor measured everything and then said everything is still on with the due date except her legs, and i just laughed and said she has no hope i could have told ya she would be small. My mom came up from Malad to be there and it was great, she was so excited and even took me to Porters after to pick out some material. Trav has also been really cute about it and i think he has been more excited it was a girl then i was. Don't get me wrong i am grateful for a girl, but i thought he would want a little Trav Jr. first, but he told me that real men have girls first, so he is already a proud daddy. Anyways just wanted to share the new exciting news, and look forward to having this little angel in our family in April.

Also i wanted to post my beautiful Christmas tree and my favorite nativity that my mom gave me when i started school. Our tree turned out wonderful, it is much smaller than last year, so i feel like it is a little overload with ornaments, but it is so fun to have up and bring the christmas spirit into our home. I think trav is already sick of christmas music because i love having it on. The Nativity is my favorite thing to put up every year. My mom is a nativity freak and i miss putting up all of hers with her. It seems like it just adds a little more of a beautiful spirit to have Christ as a baby displayed in our home. I love the holidays and the events and spirit that are in full force. I always think because of this one holy night my light has been blessed forever and i am so grateful for my Savior and his birth!

A little of everything!

Ok i know it has been over a month since i have posted, but i am going to try and get caught up. First of all like most of you know Trav has started his new job at Rain for Rent and really enjoys it. They have already treated us very well, and enjoys the people he works with. But when he started he also received a uniform that is well how do i say this nicely, he looks like a janitor or something of that sort, but i will take it because they wash all of his clothes, so not only did we save some money on work clothes, but also send his clothes to work to get cleaned. Here is a hot picture of him. . . .

Also when he got the job he had to go to Boise to some classes for a week, and i am not the best at staying alone, especially out here in the country, so i invited some girls over from the ward and we had girls night out for a couple of days until i took off for Malad to be with my family. We had a great time playing games, eating, watching movies, (Kenize texting), and just hangin out. I kinda felt like i was back in college, except i had to cook and clean for my roommates and wake them up for school (that was a chore). It was fun though and i really appreciate them keeping me company while trav was gone. They are the cutest girls and i have already told my brother he will marry one of them. ;)

After a few days of girls night out i headed for Malad for our Christmas girls weekend out. This year my mom and the sisters all decided to do our girls shopping weekend in Park City...wow what a blast. We had a great time! And my sweet dad always makes it better with the things he does. From the pictures you can tell that we all got most of our Christmas done. It was nice!

We also went to DSW (discount shoe warehouse), and if you didn't know my weakness are shoes, i love shopping for shoes, so when i walk in i said "heaven" a little to loud, plus it didn't help that it was a warehouse, and everyone looked at me.

And then just last weekend one of my best friends was married in Logan. It was really fun to be there and just remember what a neat experience that temple marriage is. I am so excited for her because marriage is truly the best thing in my life. I love Trav and all he has brought into my life, and i am sure rusty will do the same for Jeri. Good Luck guys and enjoy the journey to forever together.

Presenting Thing 1 & Thing 2

Last night was the wonderful halloween party that Jenni Miller puts on, and it was a lot of fun. The theme this year was famous couples or duos, and you had to have a skit to present who you were. So Trav and I have been thinking for some time and were going to be Danny and Sandy off of grease and sing summer lovin (trav just wanted to dye his hair black again) but i decided that plastic tight pants and high heels all night just didn't sound all that fun. So we went with Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Dr. Suess books. Which also made it easy for our skit all we did was read a few pages from cat in the hat. It turned out great. I searched every store for blue wigs or even wigs that stuck straight up, but it was hopeless. So i finally just got blonde movie star wigs and made them work. I first used jello to get them to stick up, and i couldn't find blue so i used lime and my hands are still green, then i hung them upside down to dry and Trav spray painted them blue, wow don't they look great. One problem was i think they were meant for only girls heads, because Trav's was pretty tight. Then for the uniforms, well we bought pants from walmart, and then finally on thursday we found long red underwear at Cal's, but the trouble didn't end there. We got home and i pulled mine out of the package (which i now can't return them) and they were a youth size. Wow, they were tight, so I had to get another pair. Anyways it all worked out and we had a great time and everyone was very creative and had great costumes. Nobody knew who we were for a while, so Trav thought that was hilarious, and thanks to Doug Trav decided we better wear our red pants over our red underwear. Happy Halloween everyone!!

Before:

I also wanted to post the new improvement in our cute farm house. It had these old light switched and outlets, and i have been bothering Trav to change them because they were so old and loud. If you were to turn on a light in the back bed room you could here it click back by the back door, and the outlets were all just 2 hole outlets instead of three ( i don't know what you call them), except for for a few, which is a problem with most plugs now days. Anyways the new addition looks great and is very appreciated. Trav does start work on Monday at Rain for Rent in IDaho Falls which will be so wonderful, but i have enjoyed having him home to do all these honeydos that have finally got done. I think he is already sick of the phrase we need it for the baby:) Anyways they are so nice!!

After:

Baby Kotter

Hey guys i know a few of you are wanting to see pictures of Bree's baby so i went up to the hosptial today and visited them and took some shots of the big guy and told her i would post them on my blog so you all could see him. As some of you already know he was 9 lbs, 3 oz and 21 inches. He is so cute and has the biggest new born feet and hands i have seen. He is going to be one tall ball player someday. He had some fluid in his lungs and needs a little help breathing so that is why he has all the stuff on him. Bree and dillon are very excited and tired. But anyways here are some pictures of little Elijah James Kotter.

Spud Harvest & Conference

As most of you know it is that time of the year again...Spud harvest (potatoe harvest for those of you who don't speak that language aka: Trevor, and the picture is of me in a potato pit with lots of potatoes behind me ). We started diggin on Sept 27th and finished on Friday the 3rd. It was wonderful to be done in a week and during the warm week. This week has been so cold. I wasn't a lot of help because I had to (or should i stay got to) work. I would get home at 6:00 and they would just be finishing up because it was so hot they had to stop, so i lucked out everyday except for Friday. I took friday off to help drive. Thanks to Mak I was able to drive a spud truck all day and help out a little bit. I don't know if Doug would say i was help or just a pain, but it was all good. Trav was in the digger, Jeff was in the cross over, Doug was running the pit, and then we had the girls and grandpa driving (and who said women drivers were bad). We started about 7:30 am and finished up that night at about 10:00 pm. It was a long very wearing day. I am use to sitting on my butt using a computer, eating every 4 hours, and using the restroom every hour. Well not that day. I used the restroom once, and had a sandwich. My poor baby was like what are you doing. The highlight of the day except for when we got to shower and go to bed was when I was unloading my truck and at the very bottom was a mole or muskrate thing. One of the girls picking through potatoes thought it was a dirt clod and picked it up and it squeaked, and wow then the girl screamed and screamed. Doug started freaking out and none of us knew what was going on until I looked in my mirror and saw it going up the belt into the pit. I started laughing so hard, and Mak was laughing too. Then when i got out to the field i was trying to tell trav the story through the tractor and was struggling driving at the same time because i was still laughing. Needless to stay we needed the pick me up. Once again i am glad i could help, but i was definately worn out, tired and very dirty at the end of the day. But it was worth the long day because we finished and i was able to sleep in on that cold raining Saturday morning and watch conference in my pj's. Also, because we were done we all headed out to the cabin to watch the rest of saturday and Sunday sessions out there. It was nice to just eat and be spiritually fed by our leaders. What a wonderful conference! I love all the encouragement and direction we receieve, but i have a lot of work to do. We live in a world full of trial and sin and it is only going to get worse. It made me really ponder about how important it is for me to prepare myself because soon trav and i will be preparing one of his little spirits. O dear! Well the weekend was nice, and the highlight for trav was seeing the elk. We took a break and went hiking in the moutains by the cabin and we were being plenty loud, Brayden was hitting the trees with his pretend swords (sticks) and we were all talking, and then out of no where we saw 2 bull elk, and about 5 cows. It was pretty cool. Not very often do you see wild elk while you are walking around in the mountains. Now Trav is all pumped for this Friday (open deer hunting), he is even growing a nasty beared that i am having a hard time waking up to, but he thinks he has to have it to hunt with Clint. And if i have to hear him practice bugling one more morning i am really going to kill clint.

(this is the picture of the elk we saw, sorry you can't see it)

Anyways sorry this is getting really long, but things are good and we are going on 15 weeks pregnant and a little tummy that isn't going away.

This is just a random picture i took that i thought was pretty funny. I looked out my window the other day and i saw Trav and his dad riding through the field together. I called it Daddy's little helper!