Quite the update:)

WOW! Where to begin?! Since the last post, we have had our 4 year anniversary, valentines day, and found out we are PREGNANT! I feel like that is my excuse for not keeping the blog updated... I have been beyond tired these days! Anyway I will start from the top.

I can't believe Jason and I have been married for 4 years already! Its gone by so fast! I love him so much and we have so much fun together, I can't imagine life without him! We have moved 3 times in 4 years and I think that trend will continue with Jason joining the army... well maybe not quite that much, but a good amount of moving around. Also in that time we have welcomed our precious Zoey girl into the world! I almost don't remember what my life was like before her! She is such a light in our lives! She makes almost anything fun, no matter where we are or what we are doing she brings a smile to our faces!

Since we are in Med school we try to live a pretty frugal life... meaning we have to be creative when it comes to birthdays, holidays, anniversary, etc... So for our anniversary we just had one of our favorite home cooked meals, talked about how crazy our 4 years have been, and then curled up on the couch to netflix! I love it! I love that the small and simple things can make us so happy! Who needs money! Same for valentines, it did not consist of roses or chocolates or a new outfit... Just spending time with my little family! Jason actually did take Zoey and I out to dinner that day, which was really sweet of him. It is amazing how much I have learned out here! I have had to learn how to budget, be creative with Zoey and find fun things for us to do, sacrifice sleep to find a time to workout (it isn't as easy to just go workout when I have no family around to help with Zoey), and find a hobby! I have been experimenting with sewing, mod podge, yarn wreaths, etc... I have great friends out here who are great with that stuff! They definitely teach me a lot!

On to the new baby! AHHH! I still can't believe it! We knew we wanted another baby close to Zoey, maybe 2 to 2 1/2 years apart. Well with Zoey it took about 7 months so we figured it would take a little while for the next... WRONG! With this one, we basically thought about another baby and poof- we're pregnant again! So we are due October 11, which would make Zoey and this next baby 21 months apart. Close enough to what we thought:) I am just really grateful we are able to have another baby! I just had my first doctors appt. monday and everything was great! We saw our little baby and its strong heartbeat! Now for the long journey to October! Wish me luck:)

Next thing on our agenda is spring break! Jason has three sets of hard tests and then we can relax for 9 days straight! We are heading to North Carolina for a few days, then meeting Jason's family in Charleston SC, Hilton head, and Savanna Georgia! I am sure this trip will consist of LOTS of golf, swimming, window shopping, and relaxing! yay! I am glad the Hyde's are making the trip out! It will be so fun to see them! Jason doesn't get to go back to Utah for the summer/Riley's wedding so it will be really good for him to see his family! Also Lindsey and Chris are making the long drive from Columbia, Missouri to meet up with us too! So excited to see everyone! Hope everyone is doing well! I will try a little harder to keep this up to date:)

Zoey's first birthday

Wow! I can't believe it has already been a year! My little girl is getting so big! We had a really fun day with her! We started the day by singing happy birthday to her, then I made her some scrambled eggs (she has never had that before). She loved them! Then we skyped grandma and grandpa Stegen and opened the present they sent (cute blanket, book, card, and outfits). We played until naptime. Dad came home from school and we all went to the Greenbrier toy store...way fun! She loved playing with all the toys and seeing the giant stuffed dogs. She loves puppies! Now she sees them and says "woof woof!" The chocolate shop gave Zoey a free delicious chocolate lollipop:) After the Greenbrier we took Jason back to school, Zoey napped again, and I made Zoey's Elmo cake. We had a party for her that night with our friends and their kids, it was so much fun! We sang to Zoey and she had a funny look on her face, not knowing what was going on. We gave her cake, but it was pretty uneventful. She didn't even get messy...not like Zoey! Anyway then she opened a few gifts and played with her friends the rest of the night. She was so tired at the end of the night that I took her into her room and she reached for her crib! I love my Zoey girl! She is so smart and goofy! She learns so much everyday! Some things she can say: Mommy, Dada, bye-bye daddy, Hi, backpack, map, no-no, num num or yum, ball, doggie, hot, boogie (when dad is cleaning her nose!), owie, and some others I can't think of. She loves to give kisses and blow kisses (says mwah), wave, throw balls, kick balls, starting to run, plays peek a boo and says boo or baa, airplane with dad, plays pat-a-cake, eating pretty much anything now, can push play on the dvd player to play her elmo movie, loves to read her books with mom or by herself, swimming (can't get enough of the water) and she loves to dance! Those are just a few things she does! What a year- she has learned all of these things, been to california, st. george, virginia beach, Richmond, DC, and Utah a couple times of course. She has done well with all of the plane rides... lets hope it stays that way! Jason and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect daughter:)

Christmas 2010

Well we had a good long Christmas break! We left good old West Virginia on the 18th to fly home to Utah for Christmas. We flew out of DC so we had a good little drive (4 hours) thankfully we got to stay at the Gilbert's home once again to break up the trip a little bit. Anyway Zoey did a really good job on the flights. She slept the entire flight from Dulles to Denver (awesome). Jason's parents picked us up from the airport and took us to a really good pizza place in SLC! I had been craving GOOD pizza for a long time so thank you Hyde's! We surprised my parents by coming a day earlier than they thought. It was pretty funny, we had Zoey in her car seat all bundled up on my parents porch. We rang the doorbell and hid. My mom opened the door and just stared for a minute, not knowing what to do! She didn't even realize it was Zoey until Jason and I came out. We got some good sleep that night because we were so exhausted from traveling! The next day all of the festivities began! We had party after party after party! Between the two families it was craziness trying to make it to everything, see everybody, and have a relaxing vacation at the same time. All in all though we had a great time and we all got spoiled. Hopefully our families didn't feel like we were rushing away from them all the time :) Both families were so accommodating and understanding. We love you! Zoey had warmed right up to everybody! She loved being the center of attention! Now that we are home and I am the only one around she doesn't know what to do with herself... she must think I am sooo boring! Zoey got so many cute toys and outfits for Christmas. She loves stuffed animals and dolls! Every time she opened one she looked at it said "ohhhh!" and then gave it a hug. She makes me laugh! She also likes to give the "babies" to other people to hug and kiss, but they have to give them back right after. She got a new snow suit, a coat, and a bunch of new shoes. So clothes, toys, books... the list goes on and on. Jason and I also got spoiled! I won't list everything, but I will name a few Jason- a Flip, clothes, shoes, way fun board game (Ticket to Ride), and books. Shay- nice knife set, Food dehydrator, Pedicure, barefoot running shoes (don't know what they are called), and clothes. Jason and I weren't supposed to get anything for each other since we bought plane tickets home, but he broke the rules and "Zoey" got me a Garmin Forerunner GPS/heart rate monitor! I was so excited, but so mad at the same time! Budgets and rules never work with Jason, he always over does it:) After Christmas things slowed down a little and we saw some friends and relaxed before we flew back to DC. We had so much stuff that we ended up paying $250 just for our bags!! (Well there goes all our Christmas money! Ridiculous!) Oh well, I guess next time we will plan better:) On a better note, we flew back on the 31st so we spent new years eve and new years day in DC. Our hotel was fancy so we swam, relaxed and then saw a museum or two before heading back to Lewisburg. I am still trying to adjust to regular life! I have been taking care of a sick baby, getting sick, speaking in church, and trying to find a place for all of our new goodies from Christmas! I think that about sums everything up! Zoey's birthday is Thursday so I will most likely post again soon. I can't believe my baby is already ONE!

Recent happenings in WV

Jason is now studying biochemistry and nutrition in school. It is kind of nice to have him come home and tell me all the things he has learned about nutrition... it makes me wonder how we don't weigh 300 lbs! We have now started eating salad about every night for dinner (just one minor change because of the class). So only two tests before Christmas break and Utah! Yeah! We are so excited to see our families!

I have been making some Christmas gifts, other crafts, and baking treats the past little while! Also two of my friends here are huge Twilight fans, so last week we watched all three movies in three nights! It was fun to have girls night and eat homemade caramel corn! I never really got into the whole twilight thing, but I guess I will read the books now... hopefully I didn't ruin anything by seeing the movies first! I am not running as much as I would like right now, but I am playing soccer with Jason on an intramural team from the O school. It is a lot of fun! I am also trying this new workout dvd so I can workout at home while watching Zoey. It is a Jillian Michaels dvd... I am not a huge fan of her, but the workout is pretty good!

On to the good stuff... ZOEY! She is SO much fun! Here are a few things she is doing-

• Walking around everywhere
• Getting into everything (toilet paper, dvd's, garbage, books)
• Clapping
• Dancing
• saying hi and waving
• blowing kisses
• Giving hugs
• Screaming to see how loud she can be
• dribbling a ball...My personal favorite!

Things she loves-

• Animals (puppies, kitties, dumbo rats (video will be included), really any animal)
• Books- her fav is Hop on Pop
• Christmas lights
• FOOD of any kind
• Daddy chasing her/throwing her around
• Watching Dora
• Skyping grandparents
• Her bear
• Toy stores and Wal-Mart (Ugh)
• Herself (in mirror or pictures)
• Bathtime
• Walks

That is all I can think of right now, but she is so fun and has such a fun personality!

Thanksgiving at the Gilbert's house! Good food, good friends, good times!