Washington D.C.

I served my mission for the LDS Church in Washington D.C. I loved loved my mission because of all the people that I was able to meet. When we found out we were moving to Philadelphia, I was excited because I knew how close it was to D.C. I could bring my little family there! So to start of Shawn's Christmas break, we celebrated, by making the two and a half hour drive to D.C. Oh man did we have such a great time. We started our trip by going to the Visitors Center at the Washington D.C. temple. The Visitors Center has a Festival of Lights every year. There is a free concert every night in December and there are so many lights, nativities etc that bring the Christmas spirit. It was so neat to go back. The Visitors Center was completely redone and it looks amazing! There is such a special spirit there. If you are ever in Washington D.C. I highly recommend it. We were able to meet up with Jenny, Kristen and her family (sisters I served with) and another dear friend from the mission, Koshell.

We stayed with the Gordy family for the night. I helped to teach Ramona and Pat while I was a missionary. Ramona was baptized a short  while after I started my mission. I love these two so much. They are such a strength and example to me. I am so grateful I was able to meet them. If you ever want a spiritual pick me up you will have to check out Ramona's blog here. They spoiled us so much while we were there!

Our day in the city consisted of the National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, eating hot dogs from a street vendor, yum yum :) and we ended by going to the white house to see the national Christmas tree. That was pretty neat to see. Even though we weren't to impressed with the decorating of the tree (I feel like some malls have better decorated trees), they did have a littler tree for each state. We found Pennsylvania, Colorado, but could not find Idaho. Of course it was way in the back tucked in a corner decorated with potato ornaments.

Sadly it was around this time when we noticed all the flags were half staff. We asked someone why and he told us about the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Our hearts were so broken. All that kept going through my mind was "an elementary school?? really??" I did my student teaching in a first grade class and I just kept thinking about when we would practice the intruder drill and get all the kids under a table, lock the door, turn the lights off and keep them quiet. They were so scared even though it was just a practice. I cannot imagine what it would be like for real. Those teachers, and others that losted their lives for the children's sake will always be heros.  I just could not believe it and to think what is happening with our world is so scary. I still think about and pray for those families that were affected and hope that they find peace. I know those little ones are with our Heavenly Father and are in a good place.

Brother Brewer is outside the Visitors Center every night during the Festival welcoming people. Ice, Rain or snow he is  still there! IT was so good to see him!

I love the Washington D.C. temple. Here is a short and sweet video that explains about temples. 

jogger strollers on a city metro doesn't work very well :)

The Harry Potter rob! Shawn would have been a great Harry...look at that face.

My baby is being eaten by a dinosaur!

National Christmas tree

We wanted to knock on the door and sing a Christmas carol to President Obama, but the guy standing on the roof with a big gun steered us away  :)

The Gordys! Thank you for everything you did for us!

Love hot dogs :)

I think Shawn decided to forget PA school and run for President of the United States

 

9 Months Old

Miss Kanyin May is now  9 months old. It is weird to think her time outside the womb is equal to the time she spent inside of me. I prefer her in my arms then in my belly :) I feel very privileged to be her Mom. It is hard to imagine life without her. 
These last few weeks she has become a speed crawler!! I don't know why I got so excited when she first started to crawl because now my job is ten times harder. She is constantly getting into things. A few of her favorites....kitchen drawers, dishwasher, dvd shelf, and the nastiest...toilet brush! I am slowly learning to close doors behind me and learning new distraction tricks. 
Kanyin has had some separation anxiety being very attached to mom and dad. To the point that she will cry and cry if someone else is holding her and I am standing right there! It makes me sad, because at home she is the happiest baby. The last few weeks there has been  a lot of improvement, which is exciting. 
Kanyin is like her Dad and loves movies, well...two movies. Dora the Explorer and Baby Signing Time. She knows when I am turning it on and will clap and get really excited. Usually she is a mover and an attention getter, but if either of these movies are playing, there is nothing else going on in this little girls mind. 
She also LOVES to eat anything and everything. I feel like I could feed her all day and she would be content. I gave her a lemon one day to get a good face out of her and she liked it. Kanyin is a light sleeper like me. Often times we will tip toe into her room while she's sleeping and all fo a sudden her head pops up and she sees us and gets excited or cries. I can't complain though because she has been sleeping 11 hours at night for a long time now. 
Out of the blue, Kanyin learned how to slowly bat her eyes. It is pretty cute, especially when I tell her "no" and she turns around and bats her eyes.  She also gets on these giggle kicks that give us the giggles. She loves reading books. It is the only time of day when she holds still. Bath time is another highlight of the day. Whenever she hears the water in the tub turn on she is there in a second. 
Moral of the story is we love this little 9 month old baby. I hope and pray I can continue to teach her and she can continue to grow up to be a healthy good girl. 

Hopefully she will always be this eager to help with dishes :)

Naptime is a great part of the day for moms and babies :)

 I love going in her room to find these two laughing away. Kanyin loves her Dad if you can't tell. 

 Kanyin wants nothing else to do with the world when her show is playing. Usually when I have the camera out she is all over it! The end of this clip is my favorite. 

 I heard something in kitchen and this is what I found. She's a pretty smart cookie for figuring that out. 

Thanksgiving

We had such a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving. Our church did a Turkey Bowl Thanksgiving morning and we later went to our friends house, the Henderson's for the fancy feast! Of course I went black friday shopping. It is seriously one of my favorite days of the year. I was worried it was going to be a little crazy here in Philly. I was at the doctors office a few days before, when a lady was asking about my Thanksgiving plans, I told her about my black friday fetish, and she said, "oh dear...watch your purse." I was a little nervous, but it turned out to be so great. You can't beat new movies for $4! Decorating for Christmas was another success Thanksgiving weekend. It was so nice having Shawn home for a few days. Even though he had to study here and there it was great. Shawn also went and helped with the Hurricane Sandy clean up in New Jersey all day on Sunday. There are so many people that lost everything. It really caused us to reflect on all the MANY things we are grateful for. I cannot thank my Heavenly Father enough for the countless blessing I have received. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. 

Getting ready for the big football game!

  

Spiders vs. Torrey

I love all of the trees and green you see here on the east coast, but the only down side is there are alot more bugs etc. I understand that it is starting to get cold and everyone and everything wants to be warm, but I am just struggling with sharing my warm cozy apartment with nasty looking spiders. Just a few examples:   

I was sitting on the couch feeding the baby when all of a sudden a spider came crawling out from under me!! Poor Kanyin thought I was having a heart attack. 
Another time, I went to grab a tissue to wipe Kanyin's poor little nose and when I pulled the tissue out from the box, surprise..there was another little spider friend. 
The real battle has been between me and the spider in my kitchen window. One day I noticed a very well designed spider web on the window ledge. I didn't want to stare at it while doing the dishes so I wiped it away. A few days later to my surprise it was back! I thought to myself that this is a very sneaky little guy, because I have yet to see him. I decided I would trick it and put a sticky trap on the ledge...hehehehe. The next morning I went to the window, excited to see what kind of clever spider it was. To my surprise, there was as web built around the sticky trap!! I have to say I was impressed.
Shawn says the next spider that he sees he is going to put it in a jar and make me carry it around all day, so I get over this fear. I guess we will see if it works. Moral of the story is I am not a huge fan of spiders, but I am grateful that we are mice free so far :) 

Hidden Treasures

We live just a few minutes away from a train station, busy roads, stores etc. Sometimes I crave nature and the peace and comfort it brings. Well, a week ago we went for a little walk and decided to go check out the train station. Turns out on the other side of the train station there is an AWESOME little park! Nature trail, creek, ducks, lots of trees, bridge and to top it all off a play ground at the end of the trail. I was so so happy when we found this place. How lucky am to have such a neat place just a few minutes away. I felt like a was at the end of treasure hunt. A little tender mercy from the Lord for Torrey. :) Kanyin and I enjoy walking there now. The only tricky and entertaining part of our walks is getting down and up the stairs with the stroller to get across the train station. Usually there are really nice people who feel bad for me and help me out. 

 

Amish Country

When we found out we were moving to Pennsylvania, one of the first things on our "to do list" was visit the Amish Country. We decided to check this adventure off our list one of the first weekends we were out here, and it was such a blast! We can't wait to go back. We did the whole buggy ride, market, and shopping thing. The neatest part was driving through the back roads and seeing all the farms. Many of the farms had signs out by their driveways that said things like "peppers for sale" or "free kittens." We decided to give it a try and we went to one family's shop (which was in their house). They sold cheese, quilts, medicine, clothes etc. It was so neat talking to Katie (the wife and owner of the store). We talked to her about the area and how they live. Such a unique and simple life style. No electricity, no cars etc (for the most part). Each district is alittle different. It seemed that most had the standard that you can not have wires, cables etc. running into your home, symbolizing the ways of the world. Anyways..it was a fun adventure and we would highly recommend it if ever you come out east.

I am not sure why there is a tractor in the background

After our buggy ride

You don't see these around to often

In Katie's quilt shop

Once I put this on her, I HAD to buy it! Is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen?

In the market tasting some jams. Poor Kanyin doesn't look very comfortable, but at least she's sleeping

Race Time!

Birthday Time

September is here once again, which means it is birthday month! Shawn took me to the Cheese Cake Factory for my birthday. I know..so fancy. We justified it saying that since both our birthdays are in September it would be "our" birthday dinner :) I turned 26 this year which was a hard one for me to swallow. I don't know why...I think because I feel like 30 is not that far away and that is just weird! 
Thank you to the Butlers for taking care of Kanyin for us while we went out. She is going through some separation anxiety right now, so they deserve a million bucks for dealing with that.

For two weeks, I was 26 and Shawn was 25. That is always a fun two weeks to give him a hard time. He always turns it around and says I will turn 50 first, then 60 first and so on...which he does have a point.
We started his day off with breakfast in bed. That was fun to watch since he didn't have his contacts in and there was a squirmy 7 month old helping him. I didn't realize Shawn was so blind till I asked him if we was going to eat his egg and he said, "there's an egg on here!" 
His birthday was on a Sunday so breakfast in bed was short and sweet, then off to church. After church we had a yummy dinner and then had friends over for cake and ice cream.  

Breakfast in bed for the birthday boy!

Kanyin loved helping her Dad open his presents. Actually she just thought the newspaper tasted good

26 candles!!

The birthday celebration ended in some bedtime stories

Talk talk talk

Kanyin started saying "mamama" when she is mad or crying. So cute!

Moving across the USA

P.A. (Physicians Assistant) School is very competitive right now. Shawn applied to six schools and we didn't really think that much would come of it since it was later in the year to apply etc. Last December, Shawn got an email from Salus University in Philadelphia wanting an interview. We were so excited! Once he got to Philly is when they told him that they already filled all the seats for the class, these interviews were to get onto the "stand by" list per say. That was a bummer when we found that out and we lost hope of our chances. After much prayer we decided that if we didn't get into P.A. school, we would stay in Rexburg for another year since we both has good jobs and Shawn could build up patient hours and apply again for the following year. Of course you plan out your life and then usually Heavenly Father has other ideas. :) Well, in late May, Shawn got an email for Salus saying a spot opened up and they offered him a spot in the Fall 2012 class! We were both nervous since we had our minds set on staying in Rexburg, and moving across the country away from our families with a new baby made us sad. At the same time we felt extremely blessed and knew this path was for us. Moving across the country is expensive! We stored some of our things at Shawn's parents house and decided just to bring our essentials. So we packed up and off we went. Of course we turned our move into an awesome trip across the country. It was so neat to see all the different states and meet so many people. I decided to make a movie out of our little adventure. I have to apologive, because after I finished the video and watched it, I thought to myself, "wow that is alot of video of our baby!" We just love her so much though I can't help it. I am so glad we did get some good documentation so we can show this to her when she is older.

Election Time!

Four years ago I was on my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so I didn't hear much about  the election. The election before that I was in high school and didn't care as much as I do now. I have to say, I really enjoyed watching the first presidential debate the other night. I found myself excited to see more. One thing I don't like is how negative politics can be. I understand that is how it goes, but I think more positive aspects can be brought out.

During all this I found that I am more grateful to be an American and live in this country. So many people do not have the freedoms we enjoy, and I love that we have the right to vote for our leaders and the people play such a huge role.

I hope and pray for our country, our troops and leaders. What an exciting time this is. 

I loved the Mitt Romney video that was played at the RNC. It's important to see how a man has become the way he is.