Top 11 of 2011

11. We celebrated our 2nd anniversary. Yay for marriage!
10. We had a great week long vacation with the Thomas family in early July. It was heaven.
9. We completely paid off our car. HUGE accomplishment for a poor student couple.
8. We spent hours and hours of our summer at Seven Peaks. Yes, it deserves to be on the list.
7. Alex got to gonto Ukraine with his parents to pick up his little brother Tyler from his mission. It was a very cool experience.
6. Our ward was reorganized and we have had the chance to serve in some leadership. It has been a huge blessing!
5. Alex changesd his major to Business and Entreprenuership. It fits him so well.
4. I graduated with a Bachelors of Arts from BYU! Huge goal accomplished.
3. Alex was accepted to and completed an awesome Real Estate internship. He loved it and wants to focus on real estate and business. So proud of him!
2. We bought our first place - a condo at a great rate that will e a great rental when we move on.
1. We got pregnant and it stuck! :) we are SO excited for what 2012 will bring us - a son! :) and many other blessings I am sure.

Happy New Year!

drum roll please...

hello my four readers!

Yesterday we had our gender ultrasound. I LOVE ultrasounds. I haven't felt any movement yet, so I still think it's amazing that a little baby is wiggling in there. We are double spoiled because we got to find out early--at 16 weeks in stead of 20. Score.

It is an absolute miracle. I am so, so grateful that a child is coming to us. Fertility is such a precious thing. For a bit there we weren't so sure it would all work out, but it works out in the Lord's timing and not ours :)


SO! To announce the big news, we had a UT family get together last night. (I called MN family about 5 seconds after we got to the car after the appointment) :). It was really, really fun and of course I took zero pictures. We had family and a few friends over and showed them the DVD of the ultrasound. When they first came, they voted for girl or boy by pouring pink or blue punch in their cups. We made cupcakes filled with the right color frosting -- and then showed them the ultrasound. Then we talked about funny names for the next hour. :) This baby gets a fun family.

And now, to announce it to YOU -- we are having a little....

BOY! :)

We are so, so excited!! Either gender would have been great for us, and we are so happy it's a boy. I have been drooling over overalls, bow ties, sweater vests, and track suits ever since we found out. He gave us a very clear picture, so we're 100% sure he's a boy!

We are so excited for this stage of our lives. We are so blessed! I will (hopefully) post soon to update you on the other latest stuff with us. But this is by far the best. :)

xoxo

Nat

miracle :)

..and we are SO excited! :)


xoxo

Natalie

catch up

#1- Our new place! We have been living in Alpine while commuting to Provo to save up $$ to buy a place of our own. We are EXCITED to announce that we closed TODAY and will be moving in this weekend.
#2 - A cute mom made "Mummy Milk" for a snack today at one of my class's Halloween party. Adorable.
#3- We had the blessing of being able to watch the Bawden crew for a week. This is what our week was like - a totally hilarious blast.
#4- Fall colors.
#5- Go BYU soccer! :)
#6- Jimmer game. Did you see us on TV? :)
#7- The beautifull scenery in UT that we have been seeing way too much of with all of the driving back and forth.

We have lots of exciting things happening, which I will write about very soon! Hope you are all doing well!

xoxo

Nat

Team Riley

So, yesterday during the game us Madsens made an amazing discovery.  Riley Nelson = Prince Charming from Shrek. Seriously.

And we had fun joking around about Riley Nelson's hair. Which led us to watching him run in slow motion to "I will always love you". Which led to Mark making this video. Enjoy! :)

now

Hello!

Well, we've made it to the school year! Things have been BUSY but great. We are currently staying up in Alpine, saving up money, driving down to Provo almost daily, and counting down the days until closing day. That's right, we have happy news -- we are getting a condo of our very own to live in! We are excited and nervous and anxious and a million other emotions, but we think it will be worth it. Oh, and we're trying not to get too excited in case it doesn't work out. I have to keep reminding myself of that. :)

I had the awesome blessing of being able to go the Conference Center to see the Relief Society General Meeting. Holy moly. It was so inspiring. I feel like my whole life is a list of "I'll be happy when..." (exhibit A: the paragraph above). I'll be happy when we have a baby, I'll be happy when Alex is done with school, I'll be happy when I eat dinner, and the list goes on and on.

I'm glad that I have things to look forward to that make me excited, but I need to find joy in the journey. I need to find joy right now. Thank you, Elder Uchtdorf, for helping me remember that. :)



Have a wonderful conference weekend full of inspiration, good food, and pretty fall trees! :)

Hope you are all doing well!
xoxo

Nat

heather's wedding!

My little sis got married. It was so fun to be there, even though it was a quick trip. Here's pics!

Studly brother. Comes out to UT in ONE WEEk for school. So excited!



Beginnings of the candy counter. Didn't get a finished shot.



Mmmmm. Chipotle. :)

Me and my Mama!

The wedding was outside in my parent's backyard. It was a perfect day :)

Hope you are all doing well!
xo

Nat

crazy week

Our past week or so has been really nuts. And it's going to get more crazy -- I'm flying out in about two hours to go to MN (what did I use to do in airports without an Iphone?). Alex will join me Friday for my sister Heather's wedding on Saturday. Krysten, my old roomate, had her sealing was this morning and it was just beautiful. Beautiful couple. This past week has been filled with a DC show (of course), meetings, Relief Society, 7 peaks, moving form our apartment we lived in for almost two years, and of course, weddings!

Here's pictures. Hope you're all well! :)

Onto the next adventure! PS: Isn't my nephew adorable? Yes, I'm baby hungry. Baby starving more like. :)

a new hope

Yes, that is a Star Wars reference. I will explain. Be patient, young Skywalker.

This month has been crazy, to say the least, with lots of ups and downs. My favorite up, however, was our Thomas Family Reunion. It was just with my immediate family -- which has grown in the past few years and added on two more sons (and we're adding a third next month!). It was beyond wonderful. I spent a week with my family. Actually I spent 9 days with my family. Please remember, I see my entire family probably about once every 6 months. Maybe a little longer than that. They are many, many miles away from me and I miss them everyday.

We went boating, fishing, and just RELAXED with each other. One day we went and checked out the local fair and got a snow cone. :) It was so fun. Memories I will never forget. :)

Since coming home, we got to see Jodie and Kira (hooray!) and spend time with them.

We love all of our nieces and nephews so much. They are all the cutest babies we have ever seen. :)

We got settled back home just in time for a sickness to hit us. This round has really hit me hard emotionally. I just feel really exhausted. I've been surprised -- usually the summer means no stomach bugs, lots of outside activities, energy, exercise, eating healthy. So far there has definately been all that, but way more lows that I expected. Anybody else not know what to do with their life after they graduate college? Or think you know but it's not working out? We should make a club. :)

Our ward has recently split, and I've had the chance to serve as Relief Society prez. It's been keeping me busy. Man, I don't know what I would do without service. I would literally go crazy. Even in the short time that I've been feeling sick, I've had three sisters offer to bring me dinner. Seriously? How blessed am I?

I think the biggest lesson I've learned so far this summer is that serving others brings us true happiness. Yes, seeing Harry Potter with my friends AND getting a bucket of popcorn (splurge of the year) made me very happy.  (We all dressed up as the Seven Horcruxes - it was as cool as it sounds. I'll make a whole post about HP - it deserves one!) Yes, going to Seven Peaks makes me smile. BUT, being with my family brings me joy. Alex's smile when he sees me when he gets home from work brings me joy. The things that don't cost a cent bring me true joy. Thinking about the gospel, and knowing that Christ has felt everything I have been feeling, brings me peace and comfort. More than I can say.

When we feel like we have no control is when our faith is really tested. It's our chance to prove that we believe in the better things; and that we know that all will work out for the best. And knowing that the future is bright, that there are so many things to look forward to, has given me a new hope. :)  And now, I think I'll watch Star Wars.

failed: awkward and awesome thursday

Well, shoot. I tried to be better at posting, and I completely forgot about the posting-every-Thursday thing. Here's my list, better late than never right, all three of you reading this?

awesome:

-We went to the new slide at 7 peaks. I could ride that thing forever.
-We had another show at Muse Music here in Provo. We did some old favorites, and kind of weird sketches that we can't really get away with on campus.
- Lunch date at Jimmy Johns - they had $1 sandwiches yesterday! Our walk to Jimmy Johns was also awesome.
-My yoga mat I got for my birthday finally came in the mail. Hooray for no more use of the sweaty and used by many mats at the gym!
-We leave ONE week from today for our vacation with my family. One whole week on a lake with my crazy siblings and parents. I'm excited.

awkward:

-I forgot about awesome and awkward thursday
-I went to CostCo and only bought a bag of mandarin oranges. I got weird stares from mothers pushing dolly's around filled to the top. There's only two of us, okay?
-I can't think of anything else awkward that happened on Thursday.

Have a great weekend! We will be camping tonight, so I should post about that next week! :)

xo
Nat

awkward and awesome thursday

So, there's this cute blog that does "Awkward and Awesome Thursday" sometimes. I like it. So, since I'm horrible at blogging, I thought I would start writing every Thursday, so I'll at least post once a week. Right? Sure. Let's go with that.

AWKWARD

 - We got a box of blueberries at WalMart today. They were gone by the time we got home.

- Today in my pre-school class, we were painting helicopters for the letter "H". One girl, who is very prim and proper, started painting below the helicopter. She's really good at painting in the lines. I asked what she was doing, and she said with a big smile "painting puke". Can't decide if it's awkward or awesome.

 - Getting recognized at the gym as the "girl from DC". Sweaty and without make-up on. Saweet.

AWESOME:

 - The fact that we ate a box of blueberries in ten minutes. Or less.

 - I get to go to space camp tonight. Fo freeeeee.

 - S'mores and hot tubbing two nights ago = summer vacation

 - It's officially summer time. Last night we broke out the bikes and filled up the tires.

 -CostCo has Naked smoothies. That's one ridiculously huge portion I'm willing to buy.

 -Got a facial at the in-laws spa. Heavenly.

 -Little sister gets in town tonight. Yaaaay!


Happy Thursday!

Start spreadin' the news...

Shortly after graduation (okay the very next day at 5 am) I headed to New York City with my friends in Divine Comedy for a whole week. You guys, it was heaven. I was kind of expecting to hate all the smoke, smog, and weirdos through out the city, but I absolutely loved every aspect of New York. The energy, the pizza, the bagels, the subway, the theater. It was amazing. I'm so grateful to Divine Comedy for letting me come. The best part was that it was for a whole week, so we had time to work hard performing and play hard seeing shows. By the last few days, I felt like a real New Yorker. I could find my way anywhere on the subway system. The first day I was a little nervous about getting lost, but by the end of the trip I was a pro. I told Alex we have to live, or at least visit often, NYC. I just fell in love with the city. And now, a million pictures to show of my adventures. :)

About half way through the week, Alex flew out and spent my free time days with me. It was amazing. As you can see, we won the Wicked lottery and scored front. row. seats. I had already seen Wicked before, but Alex hadn't. It was a once in a lifetime experience.


Thank you Divine Comedy for taking me to NEW YORK! :)