Who's Spoiled?

On October 10th, I turned 29! It is scary to think that my twenties are almost over. But, I didn't let myself get too sad about it. Luck was on my side and Corey had a two day break from school on the 10th and 11th. So, I planned a trip to New Bern, North Carolina! I am a planner, in fact, I had been secretly planning this trip before I left Utah. The reason being that Nicholas Sparks lives in NC, and he has always been one of my favorite authors. I originally read his well known book, "The Notebook" when I was 16, and then read "A Walk to Remember". Some of his books have the same theme and aren't as good as his first few books. But, I have read almost all of his books, and have always wanted to meet him (especially because he isn't bad to look at, and he writes love stories)! He has written 17 books now, and ALL of them are based in towns throughout North Carolina. This is actually one of the main reasons I wanted to live here. Growing up in Idaho, I never thought it would be possible. But, on October 11th we waited in line at the New Bern Mall for only six hours to meet him! Jack, Addie, and Corey were such good sports through it all! Addie still says, "Mom, remember that line, it was terrible". In fact, Corey studied for a few hours while we waited, and that's the one test he got a 100% on. So, that's good news too! We met several GREAT people in line and basically we became instant friends, because we just chatted the whole time. The funny thing was that two of them had never read his books, they just thought it would be fun to meet a famous author. I thought that was hilarious! So, I met Nicholas Sparks, I was nervous, I got my original copy of "A Walk to Remember" signed, and I got his new book, "The Best of Me" signed. He told me I was going to get in trouble because I snuck in my other book to have him sign it. But, he signed it anyway! I'm spoiled! Corey got it all on video, something I will keep forever!

As for the city of New Bern, it is beautiful! It was founded in 1710, it's the second oldest town in North Carolina. It is where the Neuse and Trent Rivers meet, and the water surrounding the city made for a wonderful birthday picnic on the river! We went to the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola, and walked around their historic downtown. Corey and Addie surprised me with two shirts and a beautiful necklace for my birthday. Also, Corey REALLY wanted to give me the gift of NOT studying on my birthday. However, he got too worried about everything he needed to do and left me at the hotel with the kids that night to go study. :) I'm glad he did, he has to put school first because we have given up so much to be here. It has been a few weeks since my birthday and I'm still feeling so blessed to be able to have a mini-vacation with my family before Corey starts clinicals next week!!!

 A mural downtown New Bern

Love my boys!

Pictures don't do it justice, but it was beautiful!

 My three favorite people!

They have these little bears throughout New Bern, it was founded by the Swiss (they like bears).

Robin ordering a Pepsi on tap at the birthplace of Pepsi!

 Happy Fall!

 The waiting began at 8:00 a.m.............

 We were at the end of this line!

 We made friends with Jenny (above) and Katharine (below).

They are mother and dauther, and were so much fun, and great with our kids!

 Addie waiting, and sipping on Daddy's Diet Coke.

 Nicholas Sparks is touching my back in this picture! Haha! I think I let my "inner girl" out too much in this post!

Addie clearly doesn't know what to smile about. Someday she can say she met the famous author, Nicholas Sparks though!

The gang that waited together!

Young Women Campout

The cool thing about living in North Carolina is that we have the ocean on one side, and on the other side of the state are the mountains! I have been to the beach and loved it, and I have been looking forward to my trip with the Young Women (our youth group) to the mountains!  So, we all loaded up our vehicles on a Friday night and drove to Hanging Rock State Park (it's beautiful in the Fall, with all the changing colors)! There are three new young women in our ward from Pleasant Grove, Utah, so I stick with them a lot because we can relate to each other so well! Together, we were all excited to see what the mountains in North Carolina have to offer, and of course we couldn't help but compare them to our beautiful mountains in Utah. They didn't disappoint us; the hike was fun and challenging, and the camping was great! But, as you might see from the pictures below, the mountains are surrounded by TREES, so I can't decide if the trees take away from the grandeur, or add to them?!? I'll let you decide!

 My first sighting of a mountain in NC (yes, I took this picture while driving)!

 Some of the girls around the campfire, with Jack enjoying the fire too!

 Jack hanging out with the girls!

Beautiful, I LOVE Fall!

 Jack and I were waiting for the girls to get back from their hike to Hanging Rock!

 This is Hanging Rock, it's 2,150 feet above sea level

The beautiful mountains!

All in all it was such great weather, and I had so much fun getting to know the girls better, and spending time in nature, it was the perfect little campout!

Keeping Busy!

Since Corey has been so busy with Anesthesia school, I have been trying to keep busy with the kids so that I don't go crazy from the boredom of dishes and laundry. We go to the park almost daily, we have also gone to the library storytime several times. Some of our other favorite things to do are go to the State Farmer's Market, shop at the Mall (within walking distance), go to play group, or drive downtown to the museums.

 The Farmer's Market is stocked with fruits and veggies from local growers daily!

 Who knew that there was ORANGE watermelon?

 Yeah for Farmers (you should hear the people at the local farmer's market, they have TRUE southern accents)!

At the Farmer's Market with the kiddos and our friend Sheri (she's behind the camera)! 

Love this sign, but I can't buy any NEW decor, so I had to settle for a picture! 

 We love the rides at the Mall!

 We love this free museum that has the skeleton of a huge whale that washed up on a beach in N.C. 

 More rides at the Mall.

 Adelynn thought she was in heaven on her pony ride outside the museums!

 A huge shark fossil!

Playing at the park!  

Feeding the ducks, and then running from them! 

 Playground, she learned how to climb across the monkey bars on her own!

 Bubba and Momma!

 Trying to stand up!

A beautiful sunrise this morning (Oct 3rd),

but it seems like there are too many trees in the the way sometimes to enjoy the sunrise.

That's just part of living in North Carolina, trees everywhere!

Surviving Anesthesia School

Corey has officially been in anesthesia school for about seven weeks! First, I should say that we are grateful for this opportunity and so lucky to be in Raleigh where we have lots to do and many great friends. But, the other day he told one of his friends that it feels like he has been in school for SOOO long already. Corey is either at school, studying for his next test, writing a paper, or spacing out about school. I have never seen Corey like this before; he is usually the kind of guy who LOVES to chill, and he always takes time out of his day to watch a few hours of TV. Well, he is so disconnected from the world he hasn't had time to pick up the remote, just books! I will look at him sometimes, and he looks like he is so spaced out. I have learned NOT to ask what he is thinking about, because it is usually this BIG explanation about an anesthesia drug, and receptors, and neurons...BLAH! Heck, we only have two more years of this. : ) But, overall Corey has been doing well, and I know that he can do it!


Basically, my days consist of entertaining our two beautiful children. I love being a stay at home Mom! I feel very blessed to be able to spend so much time with my kiddos! I keep thinking about when Adelynn was Jack's age, and how I was teaching school. I just keep thinking about all the little things I missed out on when Addie was this age. But, she loved going to the babysitter's house, because it was more fun! Jack is a completely different child. He is clingy, and won’t let his Mother out of his sight. It is amazing how siblings can be so different. Adelynn is getting so stinkin' smart, and I can't sneak anything past her these days. She catches on to everything! She was watching TBN, Trinity Broadcasting Network, (yes, we are in the South now), and they have cartoons on about Jesus. She kept asking me why Jesus could heal people, and HOW he could walk on water. I told her it was because he had priesthood power from God. She looked right at me and said, "Do boats have priesthood power?" I am trying to do preschool with her at home and she is self motivated and learning things so quickly. She is at that age where she asks a million questions within one day, she's so curious about the world. I'm starting to realize that children learn so much from their parents, and wishing that I were smarter.


As for Jack, he just turned ten months! He army crawls as fast as any kid can normally crawl! He is starting to pull up on things and wants to stand on his own. He plays well with his Sissy! But, he is still very emotional and cries a lot. He is teething and always wants to eat or chew on something. He eats solids really well, and as long as he has food in his mouth he is happy.

I have been working with the Young Women at church, and I'm loving them all, and grateful for the distraction! This Friday I will be taking Jack and going on a campout with the young women. I'm excited to see the Appalachian Mountains!

He still looks like he is surviving, right?!? He uses his headphones to study, to drown out all our noise.

                    Jack, spilled out all his snacks!                     

 We go grocery shopping too much, but the kids like it!

 He takes after his Dad!

 I love that the apple juice is right there and he isn't grabbing for it.

Everytime I open the fridge he goes right for the diet coke. But, if I have anything to do with it he wont have any for a LONG time.

 Adelynn, all smiles!

 When I unload the dishwasher he climbs up on it!

 Feeding Jack, AGAIN! Addie took this picture, she told me I HAD to tilt my head to look cute for the picture. HA HA!

Life is peaceful when this little one is napping.

Nice day at the park