2014 The best and craziest year yet!!

JANUARY

• We found out we were expecting a baby! I cried. We had waited for this special news & couldn't be happier.

FEBRUARY

• We had our first doctor's appointment and were so happy to see our little bean! 

MARCH

• Derek & Caitie got married! We loved visiting our old Utah home and getting together with most of our Kofoed family (we missed Ryan and Thomas Rayden).

• This was the weekend we announced to our family that we were expecting.  

APRIL

• We entered the 21st century and got smartphones! Hello Instagram!! 
• It's a girl! David knew it all along. This lucky girl has 4 girl cousins born the year before her.
  
• David & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.

MAY

• David graduated from the top of his law school class! 
  
  
  
• We took a trip to Friday Harbor to celebrate. We also did the downtown Seattle touristy things like eating at the Crab Pot & walking the Public Market. The Mariners won at the game we attended & King Felix pitched. 
  

JUNE

• I said goodbye to these kiddos and Moscow Middle School. David was still working his prosecution job in Clarkston, but we didn't know where or when he'd get a more permanent job. 
  

JULY

• David got a GREAT job! He is an associate attorney in Wenatchee,WA. We said goodbye to Moscow and moved this month.
• We spent lots of time visiting family in Moses Lake.
  
• David took that Washington Bar Exam in Tacoma. His sister Jennifer came with us and the two of us shopped, went to the zoo, and played while he was slaving away.
  

AUGUST

• Our apartment flooded...twice.
  
• David started his new job.
• I kept growing....

SEPTEMBER

• Our sweet Evelyn Ann Law was born on the 12th at 6:06 P.M. at 8 pounds 2 ounces.

• These pictures were taken when she was 8 days old. She is the best thing that has happened to us and makes us happier than we could have ever imagined!
• We found out that David passed the bar on the SAME day Evelyn was born!!

OCTOBER

•  Evelyn turned a month old. 
  
• She is the sleepiest & cutest jack-o-lantern I've ever seen. 

NOVEMBER

• Our niece was baptized in Tri-Cities on Saturday November 8th and Evelyn was blessed in Moses Lake on Sunday November 9th. She wore a dress that Deidra's mom made that Deidra was blessed in also. It was great to have many family members meet our precious addition.
  

DECEMBER

• David built us a beautiful farmhouse bed!
  
• Evelyn is growing every day and is 3 months old!! She loves to talk, blow bubbles, nurse and kick her legs. She is getting better at holding her head up and loves splashing in the bath. Evelyn is generally pretty happy and is getting better at sleeping at night.  She is so beautiful and we are in awe of this precious gift each day.
  

We have had a beautiful year & hope that each of you have as well! Merry Christmas!

New Happenings...

Derek & Caitie were married last Month!

 

I wish my siblings all lived closer. I loved our quick weekend together. I love you guys so much!! Also, look at those cute babies... They neeeeed their aunt Deidra to snuggle them more.

 

David and I had a fun time walking around BYU campus and driving around Provo. It's hard to believe it's almost been three years since we lived there! David graduates from law school in May and then we have to become real adults. Oh wait, I have been doing that for 5 years... Yikes. that makes me sound old.

I am 18 weeks pregnant! It took us longer than we hoped to get pregnant, but are SO SO happy that we are expecting our first baby! Two weeks from today we will found out gender. I had my kids that were present last Friday vote on what they think the baby's gender will be. They are so full of pregnancy and baby naming advice. haha It's a good thing that 6th graders aren't typically parents.
 
Ummm... that's about all our life is right now. Teaching, law school, and pregnancy. :) 

Spring Break

David and I kinda invited ourselves along with the Earls on a Spring Break adventure this year! Friday after work David and I drove to Allie's parents house in Portland. All three couples met up there and Saturday we drove to Roseburg, OR where Mike's sister Sam lives. Her husband was out of town and she had a newborn baby and three other kids, so we spent the day with her and crashed there for the night. Sunday morning we drove to Crescent City, CA where we rented a beach house for three nights. Crescent City is pretty sweet. We were right on the beach and a short drive from the Redwoods.

 The Redwoods are breathtaking. As we walked along different trails I kept thinking I couldn't find another more impressive tree & then we would. They are AMAZING.  The most spiritual experience I've had in nature was in the Redwoods. They are incredible.

 This is the view from the beach house. There is a lighthouse in the fog on that rock.

We then drove back to ML and got to golf and spend a couple of days with family.

Long time, no post

Here's an update on our life that we don't always think is blog worthy. I am trying to do it through pictures, but we are still bad a picture taking. This summer David worked with a judge in Asotin County and an attorney in Clarkston, Washington. I worked for the school district moving classrooms, cleaning, and lots of other dirty work.  I did enjoy my job though because I got to spend a lot of time with a good friend here in Moscow and the double paycheck was nice. My friend helped me win tickets on the radio to Rendezvous in the Park, an annual concert here in Moscow. It was a fun time!

David and his classmate won best briefs in Idaho ( I am too lazy to go look up what the real title is). They were presented the award at orientation this fall. I am so proud of how hard he is working. This year David is on law review, is a writing T.A., and does some research for an attorney all on top of his class load. I got a teaching job!! I had 3 interviews this summer in different neighboring towns and all of them ended with me feeling that I did really well and then I'd receive a rejection phone call. They always told me something like, "you were our next pick", or "we think you'd be fabulous on our team". Umm... So give me the job? haha It was pretty discouraging to say the least. The first week of school, the vice principal of my current school called up and told me they decided to hire an eighth,  sixth grade teacher. They needed to start the year off with a sub until they could hire for the position and asked if I would do it. I of course accepted and subbed the first week of school not knowing if these would be "my" kids.  That Friday was my interview. I was definitely a nervous wreck because I wanted the position so badly. I was also very nervous to discover that my friend was on the interviewing committee. Anyway, I don't remember the questions or how the interview went, but I was very relieved to get a phone call offering me the position that evening! I am teaching 6th grade geography and math. Middle school is a big change from elementary school, but I am happy for the experience and my great kiddos.

 

 

David and I got to visit Kallie and Rayden in Lemoore, CA for a whole week over Thanksgiving! We flew from Spokane to SLC to Fresno, where Kallie picked us up. Ben and Kamille drove all the way down from Moses Lake to be with us too. Ryan is in Afghanistan, we miss Kallie and Rayden, and we haven't visited since they moved to California, so we felt this trip was overdue. We had a blast! One day we spent at Fresno's Zoo. It was fun to watch Rayden's excitement! Rayden and Kamille fed a giraffe with Ben's help.

Rayden attacked  pet some animals at the petting zoo part.

See I am at the zoo too. :) Rayden loves Thomas the Train and kept finding all of the "tunnels".

Driving a tractor!

We also went to a yummy tepanyaki place for dinner. The chef was funny and entertaining.

Kamille and I went with Kallie to a doctor appointment. She got an extra ultrasound because we were there visiting. :) The doc even printed out extra pictures of baby Aleta for Kamille and I. I know that you can't see well, but the left shows her hand and the second is her face and normal heartbeat.

We did some sister Christmas crafting.

Thanksgiving spread. We made TONS of food and then all left the next day. Rayden and Kallie probably still have leftovers!!

Two turkeys watching the "puppies" out the window.

This summer I got two steals of a deal on Craigslist. I bought this piano from an estate sale for 85 bucks! It ended up being kinda a crazy experience and thanks to some incredibly nice people in our ward, we got it moved into our place.

I also bought this bad boy for 80 bucks and the lady brought it over in her own truck! Love it.

Christmas is here!

Another craft! Anyway, we are alive and well. David's first final is Monday and in three weeks I'll be on break as well. :)

Redo

David and I found some chairs when out on a jog that were free and decided to make them over. We carried them home. After much sanding, scrubbing, steaming, priming, painting, cutting, upholstering, and screwing back together, they turned out pretty nice! 

Mad Skills

idea

My relief society president asked me to update our bulletin board. I was slightly overwhelmed because the other ward that uses the same room put up a pretty impressive display. I saw this idea at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPW509AJw0N5UbHFQLdqd8gfDX5sN6ElzNk7aHD8UOYNWNNiIECrMbDtzcCPf5L9Nmp-eMMOYMZ09z8DU9Lm0cHTAQC-HnE9bm5BmlpFrfCFh9pi0xxo_f9k_LWgEipnUkV5bMTN8QvZo/s400/bulltn_board_tree1.jpg that I thought would look really cute and I tried to mimic it. David cut out the bird and spray painted the trees I made. The printable I found here https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPW509AJw0N5UbHFQLdqd8gfDX5sN6ElzNk7aHD8UOYNWNNiIECrMbDtzcCPf5L9Nmp-eMMOYMZ09z8DU9Lm0cHTAQC-HnE9bm5BmlpFrfCFh9pi0xxo_f9k_LWgEipnUkV5bMTN8QvZo/s400/bulltn_board_tree1.jpg. It had a bird, so I thought it was a match made in heaven (it also covered up a pretty bad glue mess..haha). It is a quote by Lucy Mack Smith that says, "We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another, and gain instruction that we may sit down in heaven together." MU2 is our ward... Moscow University 2nd ward. I feel like it turned out pretty great. What do you think?

my version

Spoiled!

David and I are really blessed. I am trying to be more grateful and notice all of the many blessings we do have. Today I will share a few with you...

• We live only 2.5 hours from our parents, grandparents, and other family members! Before August, we lived 12 hours away. Last weekend we went home for a visit. We saw The Avengers, my Dad took me to get my hair cut and for a manicure, we ate lots of good food, and were able to spend time with lots of family for Mother's Day weekend. 

I took this at church last week. David and Dad are both wearing gray suits, white shirts, black shoes, and light blue & gray ties.

• Our apartment is spacious (compared to our last one ;) ). We have everything we need and a lot of things we don't need. We are even attempting a garden in the tiny space we kinda have (maybe I'll share that story another time). 

Ace, our pepper plant.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Our potted flowers

 

Our garden isn't much... We'll see what happens!

• We now have two cars! Since we moved to Moscow, we've been a one car family. It forced us to be strategic, but I enjoyed spending car time with David dropping him off, picking him up, or usually him dropping me off, or picking me up.

 

Our new-to-us 98 Honda Accord Ex. The previous owner took good care of the car and we hope it will serve it's purpose!

• David has finished his first year of law school! That's 1/3 of the way done people! He is doing very well and enjoys it. He got an A in his two-semester Legal Research and Writing class, which is 5 credits and his teacher said his final brief was the best in the class. She's entering it into some kind of competition... I am really proud of his hard work. Getting an A in law school is pretty tricky stuff! He currently has an internship with the superior court judge over Asotin, Garfield, and Columbia Counties in Washington and is working hard.
 

• David's parents were very generous and bought us an air conditioner! I can't wait to use it... we just need to figure out how to install it.

•  I have a job. Although it isn't the job I want, I know of many others in this area that don't have any income. I am also fortunate to have a summer job lined up that will give us extra income (I still get paid for my current job through the summer). 

One of the things I don't need, but have... David got me a Kindle for our anniversary. I am enjoying the free ebooks from the library.

• We have the gospel of Jesus Christ! I am so grateful for the temple and prayer. mormon.org

 These are just a few things... We really are fortunate. What are you feeling blessed for today?