What's new ***Warning this is a long one!***

There isn't a whole lot of new things going on with us right now. Mostly we've just been hanging out here in good old Monterey waiting for the time to pass. We are very excited and nervous about becoming parents and we are very excited for Jacob to graduate! I know we still have a couple of months before either of those things happen, but they have been in our thoughts a lot lately. Jacob finally got to feel our little Rachel move! It was so exciting! Usually what has been happening is I will feel her wiggling so I'll have Jacob put his hand on my tummy and as soon as he does she stops wiggling. Then when he takes his hand off my stomach, she starts wiggling again. I think we have a little tease on our hands already!

Last week I got to go visit family in Southern Utah and I had so much fun! It was nice to get to see all of my nieces and nephews that were in town and to get to spend some time with my parents, sisters, brother, and in-laws!

It was so funny, my visit happened to land on my niece Eden's birthday so I got to play with her for her fourth birthday. She had been so excited because she got to pick what they were having for dinner that night, but she played so hard during the day that she fell asleep at the dinner table before she even took one bite of her hot dog! What a cute little Eden Girl!

It is sad living so far away from my nieces and nephews! They change and grow up so fast and you miss so much if you aren't close by! During this visit I finally got to meet my niece Joy. She was born in April and I hadn't seen her except in pictures until last week! She is so cute and everything on her is round! She has the sweetest little spirit about her! It was fun to get to hold her and cuddle her! My sweet little Sydney niece is so funny and cute! She loves to set up the kitchen chairs in a straight line and she makes everyone sit in them and pretend they are watching a "big movie." She just cracks me up. Also when she saw my big tummy with a baby in it she started to pretend that she had a baby elephant in her tummy and she would stick it out as far as she could. My nephew Tolman is starting 2nd grade this week! I can't believe he is so big! And Kimball starts Kindergarten this week! In my mind they totally shouldn't be old enough to do that! It was really cute, Tolman made me a couple of little presents while I was there. One thing he made was a "doll" out of a water bottle. He taped red yarn to the top for the hair and taped a paper skirt to it! It was pretty funny! Kimball is as always very sweet. He is always whispering in my ear telling me how cute and sweet I am. He also told me that when he is grown up and has a baby he is going to name it Mary and he is going to let me hold it when I come over. Tait is so cute! He was talking up a storm while I was there. He is carrying on conversations and he is so sweet with his baby sister and he says the funniest things. I can harldy believe how big my nephew Brock is getting! It seems like not too long ago he was just a little baby, but now he is definitely a little boy who is learning new words and letters and he gives the sweetest little kisses. I wish I could see Julies kids too! It's been a long time since I've seen them! I'm sure they are getting big and changing as well. It wasn't a long enough trip to get to see everyone as much as I wanted to, but it I was ready to get to be with Jacob again.

Jacob finally got phase grad today! This means he only has to go to one early morning formation a week instead of two and that he only has to go do the group exercise with his flight once a week instead of the three times a week he has been doing! It will be nice to have a little extra time with him at home!

Speaking of Jacob, he went in this week to talk to the people in charge about us staying here a little longer after he graduates and fortunately the person he talked to this time was pregnant so she was quite sympathetic to our plight. She emailed some people to see if there is anyway that we can stay here and not have to report to Texas until after Christmas. That would be so nice if we can get that to work out! She told Jacob if he hasn't heard back from her in two weeks to go back in and talk to her and see if we can figure out what is going on. It would be fun to get to stay here a little bit longer and to be able to go visit our family a little bit during that time! Hopefully it will all work out that way!