Michael and Jana: 02/2015

Holiday season 2014

This year the holidays were a little different for us since we are now so far away from family. For Thanksgiving we celebrated with friends here and enjoyed a nice big dinner and visiting while our kids played. It was a lot of fun but it was still hard to be away from family. I did enjoy having a house this year that I could decorate for Christmas. This was our first year with a Christmas tree and we lucked out that John never touched it! He liked looking at it but he never tired pulling off ornaments or anything! (I am sure that will change in the future) This year my Mom also made us matching stockings for Christmas so that was fun to have family Christmas stockings! Our holiday season was very busy making chocolates and crocheting snowflakes for family and friends. We were lucky enough to be able to fly to Utah this year to have Christmas with Mike's family. His sister Emily had a baby girl on the 19th of December so we were able to be there to meet her and see everyone. We enjoyed being in Utah for a week and going between Bountiful, Provo, and Logan to see everyone and celebrate the holidays. We were able to attend the Albretsen Christmas party as well as having Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Checketts house. John was able to experience some snow as well which he enjoyed. Unfortunately Michael and John were both sick during most of the trip which made things a little less enjoyable but we were still grateful to be with family. We sadly had to fly home on Christmas day which made it not even seem like Christmas (our dinner was granola bars and gardettos from a stand at the airport) but it was cheaper and Mike had to be to work the nest day so you do what you have to. It was nice to get home and get John back on his routine. We were so glad we got to at least be with family for Christmas as it is so hard to be far away from everyone most of the time. That is the hardest thing for me living here in Louisiana. We enjoy it here but miss seeing family.

Some of our Christmas decorations

Our Christmas Stockings!

The finished product of chocolate making

Christmas day enjoying the snow!

Christmas morning and Christmas Eve with John being a shepherd

John's gifts that we left at home. He was excited to get more!

We hope you all had wonderful Holidays as well and that your 2015 is full of happiness and blessings!

It's a Girl!

In November we found out what gender our baby will be and we were thrilled to find out we are having a baby girl!!! She is due April 12th and we can't wait for her to join our family. Since I have 13 nephews and 3 nieces on my side I was concerned about my odds of ever having a girl so I am glad I will at least get one. We love having a boy and I am excited to experience having a girl as well. We have not been able to decide on a name yet but we have a list of favorites and we will wait till she is born to pick. I am so lucky that this pregnancy has been a breeze! I had little to no nausea and really have only suffered from being tired. I have felt great and I am truly blessed!

20 weeks! It's a girl!

I couldn't help but make her a little tutu

Me at 30 weeks. Only 10 to go!

October 2014

October was another fun month for us. Michael and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on September 30th. To celebrate that and my birthday which is at the beginning of October we took a little weekend trip to Destin, Florida. We enjoyed staying at a hotel right on the beach. The white sand and blue ocean were beautiful. Unfortunately it was windy and chilly our first day there but we still went swimming and enjoyed the sun. We ate good food and enjoyed the time together as our little family. We did discover vacations are not quite as relaxing when you have a one year old with you but we still enjoyed having fun together.

I got spoiled for my birthday this year from my boys. Michael made me a yummy breakfast

and a delicious nutella cheesecake! Thanks for all the cards, gifts, and birthday wishes from everyone. Here's to being 26!

This year for Halloween we enjoyed going to a branch Halloween party and playing lots of games and enjoying hot dogs and chille. On Halloween night we spent the evening at Mike's boss' house roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Where we live we did not have any trick or treaters so we still have yet to give out candy but one of these years we will :) John dressed up this year as a superhero and I was a witch. Michael is lame and just wore an orange shirt (just kidding I love him anyways)

Festivals

September was festival month for us. We enjoyed going to the Alligator Festival and the Battle for the Paddle. The Alligator festival was like a small carnival. They had rides and music and an eating area with lots of southern food including alligator. Michael has tried alligator before but it was a new experience for John and I. We tried alligator tamales and alligator picante sauce over rice. They were both delicious and honestly if you would have said they were pork I would have believed you. It tasted just like regular meat with a lot of seasoning and spices. Another fun festival we attended was the Battle for the Paddle. It was a fundraiser for United Way where different companies and businesses in the area sponsor teams to make jambalaya and gumbo and they have a big contest to see who's is the best. For us we just had to pay 5 dollars to sample all the jambalaya and gumbo we wanted. It was amazing and delicious. I was full after three booths and there were tons there. We have definitely enjoyed being apart of some of these southern traditions.

At the Alligator Festival

After pictures from John's first haircut (end of August 2014)

August Trip to the West!

In August we had the opportunity to go back home to the west! We started out in Utah and Mike came as well for a few days to celebrate his Grandma Albretsen's 80th birthday. We had so much fun enjoying time with family. We had a girls night on Friday night where we had dinner and went to the play Peter Pan in Bountiful. It was a fun get together. Saturday we spent the day at Aunt JoAnn's celebrating Grandma's birthday. We had a fun time playing games, eating, and learning more about Grandma. On Sunday we were excited to be able to be at Mike's cousins homecoming talk in Kaysville. Shortly after that we headed up to Logan to see the Checketts side of the family. We enjoyed a nice big dinner with lots of family. John and I sadly said goodbye to Michael and everyone as we headed up to Idaho to see my family. We had a great few days in eastern Idaho spending time with Heidi, Mark, my Mom, and my Grandma. My Mom, Emerson, John, and I then headed to Boise for the rest of the week. It was so fun to spend time with my brothers and John enjoyed playing with Emerson. That weekend we also were lucky to be there for my niece Lily's baptism and my Mom's birthday. It was a fun day and it was so nice to be able to be there with the family. Here are a few pictures of the fun!