Holidays part 1

Here are some pictures of what is happening in our life this time of the year:

We went to Star valley for Thanksgiving! It was beautiful and fantastic to be with our family there. We feasted on delicious food, played games, watched the 6 yorkies play with each other, and rested from work. So great!

20 Weeks


17 Weeks


Ultrasound of the baby at 22 weeks. It's a boy! I know we would have been excited if it was a girl, but we are super excited that it is a boy. It's just cool knowing, being able to cut our list of names in half, choose colors for things, call him "him" instead of "it" and think of his future more specifically.


Savior of the World Play stage that we were part of in the beginning of this month. Being in the play was a cool way to make friends in our stake, learn more about the Christmas story and Jewish customs of the times (such as, swaddling bands weren't crude strips of cloth but pretty bands that the bride embroidered during the year-or-so long betrothal, that were wrapped around the bride and groom's hands at the wedding and then used to wrap their newborn children). We enjoyed looking down as "angels" from the choir stand on the events.

I (Aaron) am done now with finals, and can relax and figure out what to do next while Corinne finishes up teaching before the holidays.

We moved to Spanish Fork, on short notice--we just realized that it would be a lot easier to commute for next semester if we are there, and we can escape the plumbing problems in our old apartment. I think management will be a lot better in our new one.

We will be going to Oregon for Christmas next week. We are looking forward to it. Happy holidays everyone!

Changing with the Seasons

Leaves are starting to fall, and the air is cooling down here in Utah. BYU won their homecoming game yesterday but we didn't watch it because we had some of my previous roommates over to talk and eat pie! School is also going well and keeping both of us busy.

In the beginning of September we took Rosie for a hair trim. Since it was her first time they didn't buzz her all over but treated her fur and trimmed certain parts to get her used to the place, noises and feel of being groomed.

Here she is before. See the hair in her eyes and scraggly ears and paws?

Ta-da! Trimmed doggie with funny little bow.

We are enjoying our callings at church. I teach Sunbeams, adorable 3-4 year-olds who love pictures, games, coloring, and visiting the drinking fountain. Aaron teaches the older primary children and leads the Webelos. Recently they did a soap box derby.Aaron has been taking pictures of me, especially my stomach, in various nice places around Provo. I wanted to take a picture of him as well. Does he look any bigger?
Well, maybe Aaron isn't growing, but I have felt some expansion in the middle, which should continue until April 16! We are extremely excited to be pregnant and to have a little baby soon! I have always looked forward to being a Mom, and although I'm sure it will be hard I think it will be delightful. That is still 6 months away, though, so right now I am just sleeping a lot, eating small, frequent meals, and crocheting a blanket. :)

about 6 weeks:

10 weeks:

13 weeks:

That slight bump doesn't show all the time. I'm excited for it to get bigger! We also had our first ultrasound but forgot to get pictures of it. There is one little human in there, with a head, four limbs, and a beating heart!

Domestic Tranquility, General Welfare, and Blessings of Liberty

This weekend we celebrated Independence Day! We watched "A More Perfect Union," a BYU made movie about the writing of the Constitution. How wonderful it is that through study, prayer, discussion, diligence and compromise leaders were able to establish a system that works as well as it does to enable happiness for its people and influenced other countries to create similar systems.

The events of our past week or so are examples of that very type of happiness.

We went with Grandma Fletcher and Uncle Sam to the funeral of Dad's cousin Cory. We enjoyed meeting Aunt Lucille and Aunt Roselle (in the above picture)--Aunt Lucille is still very energetic and cheerful. We also met Dad's cousin Wendy who said she was with him in the library when he asked Mom on their first date.

Aaron's BYU grounds crew, along with other crews, has been fixing paths around the duck pond and cleaning it out. You can now see through the water to the bottom (in some areas). They also took the ducks away but they are back, and there are at least 10 turtles.

We went on a little camping trip a couple weeks ago. We found a campground in the Hobble Creek canyon close to home. It was a bit chilly in the evening and morning so we tucked Rosie in our sweatshirts. She was a nice little warm packet for us too! I like my little teddy bear.
Our next adventure was last Saturday, when we woke up early to drive down to the Manti Temple and go hiking!

The temple was wonderful. It is beautiful inside, and less modern than most temples which is a neat experience.
Then we drove into the mountains, made hot dogs over a fire, and went for a little hike. For this picture Aaron told me to call Rosie and make a noise so she would look at the camera, but it looks like the buzz I made got the same reaction from him as it did from Rosie.
What do you suppose we found at the end of our trail? The Hollow Tree! Not just any hollow tree, but the home of the famous Keebler Elves. See them waving through the window?Here is the oven where they bake all their delicious cookies. They invited us in for some, and the cookies are even better fresh than from the packages in the grocery store.
We continued our drive up the mountains but at the top came to a snowdrift, so we got out for a walk.
Nope, can't go any farther.
On the way we saw these mysterious ruins. Definitely 20th century.
On the fourth of July we watched a hot air balloon event in Provo, ate lunch at a pirate restaurant with Matthew and Nicole and did fireworks with Matthew, Nicole, and some friends from our ward.

Those are some of the exciting things we have done with our summer time. Most of the time, though, we just play with our little bunny rabbit.


Now Rosie is 13 weeks old and she can come, sit, lie down, and play fetch. Playing fetch is especially fun. She likes it when you sit on one side of the living room and throw the ball all the way to the opposite side of the kitchen. She gets excited when it bounces off of walls or cupboards, but if it bounces off the oven she won't touch it.

Over all, we are very happy.

Moving in: minus one tire, plus one puppy

We have had a lot happen in the last two weeks. Luckily all is well. We have fixed up our apartment, visited Wyoming, took a puppy and got in an accident. We finally arrived home in Provo after eight hours of towing truck troubles. The towing truck broke down within five miles of our accident, and three hours later we were back on the road. So here are some pictures of the accident:

After all that excitement, we are alright. The bill will be higher this next month though...

Here is an update on our apartment, pictures of the outside,





And a video of the inside after we fixed it up. We still need to put linoleum on the kitchen floor, but after that we are done.

Here is a film with Kaeli and the puppies in the heat room of the Drollette's home. They are so cute; it is fun to watch.

Not to mention our puppy seems to like to hop like a rabbit. She also chews on everything.

New old apartments

So we are moving soon!

We have decided to get a puppy and so have had to move to another place. It is kind of complicated. In order to move, we would either have to end our contract, which means finding new tenants, or we could move within out management's buildings. The only place that we could go to, and not lose money and keep our current management is this one:

Now, as you can see from the movie it needs some work. The apartment is actually the basement of a house, a few blocks west from where we currently live. We have been fixing it up, and as of right now, the front room and hallways are painted, all of the holes are filled, and most things are fixed. We just need to paint the remaining rooms and fix the bathroom more. We need to fix the sink and put new flooring in as well as new trim by the shower. We also need to fix the carpet so that it does not come up. After all of that, it will be very close to being done. We hope to finish by next Wednesday.

After we finish we will upload another video to show you our progress. We will take a few pictures in the meantime.

We are excited to have a puppy in a month!

General Conference: the ensign to the nations

We both loved the April general conference. We watched at home on Saturday, and at Grandma Poulsen's house on Sunday with her, Uncle Chris, and Uncle Mark's family.

Aaron's favorite talk was Elder Uchtdorf's in the priesthood session. Like someone on a cruise ship whose meals and entertainment are included in the fare, priesthood holders are entitled to many wonderful blessings and responsibilities.

Some things I learned are...

Be loving and charitable.

• Keep covenants as an expression of love to God and others. -Walter F. Gonzalez
• Plan service in the ward (our calling). -Henry B. Eyring
• Lose yourself in helping others and becoming better. -Dallin H. Oaks
• Small acts of love accumulate and bring us peace and happiness. -M. Russel Ballard
• "By becoming the answer to someone else's prayers, we often find the answer to our own."-Dieter F. Uchtdorf
  
• A righteous society is woven of the golden threads of charity. -H. David Burton
• Contribute through fast offerings, visiting teaching, time and resources. -Silvia H. Allred
  

The gospel, particularly the Atonement of Jesus Christ, brings us joy and peace.

• Through the sacrament, my cup runs over with the blessings of the infinite atonement -L. Tom Perry
• Be honest, positive, happy, and courageous! -Boyd K. Packer
• "If we are joyful and at peace with the world, people will want to know why." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf
• Around Eastertime, we can celebrate Christ's resurrection! -Thomas S. Monson
  

Trials strengthen us if we approach them with faith in the Lord.

• Pain helps us develop important qualities and turn to the Savior. -Kent F. Richards
• "Will I be the same when this is over?" "No, you won't be the same. You will be so much stronger. You will be awesome." -Paul V. Johnson
• We may not always have absolute knowledge that we are doing the Lord's will, but if we are keeping the covenants and commandments, we can walk with confidence that He will help and lead us. -David A. Bednar
• God chastens us to help us become what he wants us to be. Religion is not just "good-natured whateverism." -D. Todd Christofferson.
• The atonement has power to heal. -C. Scott Grow (I didn't see it, by the way. He looked just about the same size.)
• The sermon on the mount began gently but culminated in "be ye therefore perfect." Discipleship is a challenging path of change and work.
  

Family is eternal and wonderful! Teaching, either as a parent or teacher, is valuable and there are effective ways to teach.

• Give children opportunities to serve. -Henry B. Eyring
• Life, and family, extends beyond this life. Faith passes from generation to generation. -Russel M. Nelson
• Establish celestial traditions in our homes. -Richard J. Maynes
• Ancestors rejoice with us when we do their temple work. Have the spirit of the temple in our hearts and homes. -President Thomas S. Monson
• Marriage is lovely! -Richard G. Scott
• Teach what children should become, not just what they should do. -Lynn G. Robins
  

An Unusual Tuesday

Last night we stayed up at the library until almost 11 trying to put a little video tape of me teaching into digital format for my internship portfolio. (We went at 7 thinking it would take about 30 minutes...a nice family home evening activity...). That was unusual because we usually go to bed around 9. Then I woke up at 5 AM feeling awful. I started getting ready for work but decided to call in sick. So, I kissed Aaron goodbye as he took his bike to work, sent an email to one of my aides with plans for today and went back to sleep. Then at about 9:15 I heard a knock on the door and recognized Aaron's voice. Why was he home so early? He came in with crutches--his foot had been run over by his crew's truck! So we were both paid to spend a nice Tuesday at home taking care of each other.

During such a busy week, it is nice to have a little day off even if we are both a bit uncomfortable. It reminds me of a poem by Robert Frost:

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

Creations and Celebrations

Aaron made this amazing bookend out of polyurethane plastic using a silicon mold. Silicon forms to the exact shape and texture of the item you mold it around, so these look and feel like real books! Before making the mold we went to DI, bought some old books and the little cathedral ($2), then glued them together. We put clay along the edges of the books and carved in some classic titles: William Shakespeare, Gulliver's Travels, and Anthology of Poems. There was going to be an opposite bookend with the King James Bible, Paradise Lost, and Two Treatises on Government, but they said he could only make one mold because they were so big. It doubled as a project for Aaron's plastics class and history of creativity class!

We brought this desk from Wyoming. Aaron made it when he was young--isn't it nice? We like the drawer space!











Aaron also made these little plastic "Warhammer" dudes with silicon molds. They aren't painted in this picture, but he has since painted them to look like real life warhammer dudes. Once again, the mold gave them really nice detail. It's fun to have such a creative husband!





And what did I make? This tower out of Jenga blocks! I have also been working on finishing my internship portfolio, which is due this Thursday! I am excited to be finished with college!












Happy Birthday to Aaron! In February I made him his first Fletcher-style birthday chair (kind of boring with ribbon, but that means future years can only get better!) and Drollette-style biscuits and gravy.












Happy Birthday to Corinne! Aaron made me waffles with peach syrup (delicious!) for my birthday in March. He decorated with apples and the chair says "Happy birthday, my favorite teacher!" My class wrote me a cute card too, at the suggestion of my aides, who are so sweet. For both our birthdays we got great cards, gifts and calls from family.

We are so fortunate!

Christmas Break

Here is a continuation of the fun things we did for the Holidays! We had a delightful time in Wyoming with the Drollettes.

Star Valley is beautiful covered in snow. We got to go snowmobiling and sledding, which was exciting!

Aaron took this picture of the sunrise.
We loved playing with our niece, Kaeli. She likes bananas, being tickled, toys, and a play tent she got for Christmas.
Also while we were in Star Valley, we played games and spent time with family, I shot a gun for the first time, we saw the movie Tangled, and we saw a big herd of elk.

Remember the gingerbread house we made? We saved it as decoration for a while but before we left for the break we demolished it. Yum!

Last semester Aaron made these things; a hammer, puzzle cube, and vice.

You have probably heard that the Provo Tabernacle burned. We both went to several stake conferences and events there and will miss the beautiful historic craftsmanship. Here is a picture of it now.