HAPPY BIRTHDAY CODY!

Yesterday was Cody's birthday! The big 2-8! Cody deserves some time in the spotlight. I think with all the excitement of being pregnant I often forget how blessed I am to have him in my life. Cody has had a great year and loves to work and learn. He has grown so much from his work experience and got a great new job. He has had to put up with a lot with me finishing school and taking boards but he is always my #1 fan and is always there to carry me through. I can depend on him for anything whether I need him to drive me to the testing center and wait while I take my boards or just help put my socks on in the morning. He has an excitement for life like a little kid on Christmas morning. He loves adventure, travel, and simple pleasures. He makes it hard to have any sort of conflict in life because he is a peacemaker at heart and loves me, both our families, and our friends so much he would do anything to help anyone. He is a worthy priesthood holder and will be a great father to our children. He gets so excited to feel the baby move and follow the pics in the baby book of her growing. He is excited to design Londyn's nursery and finish the basement and I know they will both be beautiful. I could go on for days but I don't want anyone to try to take him away so I better stop bragging about how great he is. I love you Cody! I am thankful for the relationship that we have and I will continue to love you more everyday.





Texas Roadhouse did a good job of embarrassing Cody on his birthday! They gave him some ice cream to make up for it! I never knew my hubby could ride a bull- he is a natural!! We got to visit with our friends Justin & Julie and have ice cream after dinner. It was a real treat to see them! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

Christmas/5 mo. prego pics

We had another great Christmas this year. We spent the night at Cody's parents house and had fun in all the snow! It was probably our last Christmas with no kids around for a long time but it kinda makes you feel like a kid again. I woke everyone up early so we could start opening our presents!! We all were pretty spoiled and had lots to unpack when we got home. After breakfast we headed out to go tubing and snowshoeing and had a blast! Cody loved tubing with his brothers and I braved the hill a time or 2. We got some snowshoes for Codys parents and they were nice and let us try them out. It is great exercise! I am excited for it to warm up a bit and try it again :o)
Santa did good this year- even on a budget!

Cody's Mom Kathy working the snowshoes! As you can see there is plenty of snow up there!

Cody was so excited to go tubing! They have a great hill right off the back porch!

Buster got in on the Christmas fun. He even rode the tubes a few times!

5 mo!! Okay more than 5 mo but close. I love feeling baby and I can't wait for her to come! I also love having Cody home. He is loving his new job and all the perks. We are starting on the nursery soon. More pics to come!!

Happy Ending at Xactware and An Early Christmas in Idaho

Cody got a new job! He finished out his travel at Xactware in San Diego a couple weeks ago and now he doesn't have to travel anymore!! His new job is with another software company in Orem called At Task. He is in the Sales Development department and is enjoying the change. [Thanks to our good friend Justin for the referral] It is so nice to have him back all to myself :o) To celebrate I sent him a edible arrangement. It was a beauty- He even brought it home to share!
We went to the Xactware Christmas party so Cody could say goodbye(and their parties are the BEST so we really didn't want to miss it). We hung out with some friends and enjoyed the food and the entertainment.

It was at the Thanksgiving Point barn. The band and the singers were awesome! I loved it when they brought out this dancing couple during this love song- it was beautiful! They did everything from holiday music to Broadway tunes (Wicked and Les Mis- amazing!).






We went to Idaho quick this weekend to celebrate Christmas with my family. Jordan found and fixed up some old snowmobiles. He started with the old one at my Grandparents cabin, but collected some other ones and found parts. He gave 1 to my sisters kids for Chrsitmas and they were SO excited! It was fun to ride around the yard! We had a good time playing with everyone and then we a fun Christmas celebration with presents and food!

Buster even liked the Snowmobiles! Cody had a permanent smile on his face that day! Good Job Jordan!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Trip to Dallas, TX

We got to travel to Dallas this last week for Cody to do a training. I had some days off so I tagged along. It was great to be with Cody for the week. I also got to see lots of my cousins and my aunts and uncles that live in TX. I had so much fun with all of them. I went shopping at some of the fun malls in Dallas. I loved the Galleria and the American Girl Doll store. Cody's favorite part was the food- we ate steak one night and BBQ the next- both were excellent! We thought we had a warm getaway but soon found otherwise. It snowed the day I flew in. It was a little warmer than Utah but not what I expected! Dinner with my fam- Kirt and Brenda, Diana and Kris and all their kids.

Nativity Exibition- Nativities from all over the world. Very cool!

The new Dallas Cowboys stadium/Rangers Stadium/Six Flags TX. I ran around the stadiums one day and a maintance guy fell off the roof. Yikes!

"FAMILY..isn't it about TIME"

So if you know me at all you know I love to plan things. Anything really- just love to have a plan. So my life plan is pretty in depth and detailed in the back of my journal along with my dreams and life goals. So far I have stuck to these plans, this year I had so much planned- graduation, Hawaii, marathon, Europe, and so much more. This upcoming year, however, has something different in our master plan. That's right- it worked out perfectly! CODY AND I ARE HAVING A BABY!!! A sweet baby girl will join our family in 2010. We can't wait!

Isn't she cute! Londyn Pam Kartchner will join our family in April 2010.
Here is a little flashback of pregnancy since day 1.. Cody likes to track my growth and take lots of pics! We are both so excited! Here is a little blast from the past.

The day we found out. Totally excited but totally scared!

2 mo.

3 mo.

4 mo.- (starting to show/pushing it out alittle)
Stay tuned for 5 mo pics. Coming soon!

Cody's favorite picture You can see her little footprint!! We are already totally wooped and can't wait for her to get here! Can't believe we are having a baby!

Oh and this is a good time for me to tell our blog readers we will be making our blog private starting in April. I hesitate to do this but I want to protect our little girl and I have heard too many terrible stories. We would love to have you continue to read so please leave your email so we can add you to the list and you can watch baby Londyn as she grows up!

Counting My Blessings

We had a great Thanksgiving and got to spend 4 days at home with my family. We haven't done that in a long time and it was great to have so much time with them. Thursday we had a great dinner and watched a movie together. Friday morning, Steph, Mom and I got up EARLY to go shopping and I almost finished my Christmas shopping (which was quite the accomplishment as I hadn't really started til that day either!!) We had a fun morning together but decided it wasn't worth it to get up that early with all the lines and crazy rude shoppers! We did get some good deals though~ We Celebrated BYU's victory over UTAH (GO COUGARS) It was a great game and we are sad the season is ending! We took some family pictures, played with dogs(3 labs=trouble ), watched movies, played games and ate- ALOT! We have so much to be thankful for!

Rome & First Class Seats Home

We arrived in Rome a little late due to a delay on the flight over. After a crazy bus ride through the city and being lost more than once we found our hotel. I was warned about pick pocketing and it made me paranoid! But we made it home with all our valuables. We were glad to find our hotel was pretty nice. It was large for Europe’s standards and Cody was thrilled it had a bidet. Sorry no pictures! Anyhow we went straight to the Colosseum and passed some “Old Stuff” along the way. We never found a bus map the whole time we were there! It was a city of chaos! But we managed to get everywhere we needed to go. I was really looking forward to some yummy Italian food so we went searching for some immediately. I found the best pasta that first night at an outdoor restaurant on the street by the Piazza Della Repubblica. It was my favorite- peppered pasta with some kind of yummy cheese! We also got some pizza outside the Colosseum later that night. Cody got some good photos of the outside of the Colosseum and we went back Sunday for the tour inside. Yay- we made it to Rome! Where's some italian food?

Incredible sights. The city sure wasn't much. Graffiti on all the buildings, everyone smoking, no personal space.. But the sights made it all worth it.

Cody loved the "Old Stuff" There were these creepy black cats everywhere they had excavated.

Saturday we headed to Vatican City. First we went to St. Peters Basilica- and you guessed it- we climbed to the top! I really lost 5lbs just from all the climbing and walking we did! It is so much to take in. From the cupola you could see all of Vatican City, the guards in their funny uniforms, the gardens, the walls, the square, fountains, etc. and the city of Rome. Then we toured the Musei Vaticano to get a peak at the Sistine Chapel and lots of other paintings, hallways, and chapels. It was all overwhelming! So much to take in- famous art and ancient buildings, etc.

Vatican Square. More views of the city from the top of St. Peters.

Cody ready for Confession.

Views from the other side- I am surprised my face isn't red from all the stairs! You climb up the side of the dome so it is awkward but pretty cool.

The Laocoon- one of the many famous sculptures.

The Sistine Chapel. Illegal photo- I didn't do it! j/k I did!

Sunday we headed back to the Colosseum for the tour and to learn about all that happened there. Cody was in heaven. We ended up eating lunch nearby. We had been warned that the Romans would try anything to rip us off and here we have it- a glass bottle of water (appearing to be mineral water) that was filled with tap water- warm and nasty. They tried to charge us 6 Euros!!! What jerks! We fought and they threatened to call the police but compromised at a much lower price. We were both amazed!

Inside the Colosseum

We walked around the upper and lower levels to "explore."

Then to the Pantheon. On the way back we stopped at the Piazza de Spagna to see the Spanish steps and the Fontina di Trevi for some Nutella gelato. Heaven sent! We finished the night off with dinner in Trasteverde, quite popular at night. We ate some good food and headed back.

The Pantheon. I tried to find someone to take a pic of us forever- nobody looked nice enough so I had to settle with this.

The Pantheon from the inside. The floor was wet from the rain! Somebody wasn't thinking when they designed the hole in the roof!

Yummy Gelato!!

Everyone took pics of this car- we weren't sure why- but we got one too! We ate right off the road there.

Cody with a real bottle of water- our joke from when they tried to rip us off earlier in the day.

The greatest delight came the next morning as we were preparing to board our 9 hour flight to JFK. We had gotten up early to ride the bus to the termini with all our luggage, then board the train to the airport. It was such a pain to get anywhere but I especially hated hauling luggage around! It had been a long morning and we were preparing for the worst as we headed for the plane. Our names were called at the gate and we were informed we had been upgraded to FIRST CLASS!! DREAM COME TRUE!! Thanks to Cody and his sky miles. I don't know how we both got upgraded but I wasn't about to ask. It was the most heavenly flight I have ever been on my whole life. Seriously I have never been treated so well!! I think the best food I ate in Italy was on that plane! We had a 5 course Italian dinner! Ice in all the drinks and fresh fruit which was hard to come by the previous 10 days! We watched movies, laid our chairs back into beds to nap, and lived it up! Then at the JFK airport we were able to go into the Sky lounge for international travelers :o) Free food/drinks, Internet, showers, business rooms, etc. It was the perfect way to make the 24-hour trip home!

My snack, only a few hours after the 5 course meal.

Cody smiling as he slept. The chairs reclined all the way! I have never been so spoiled in my life.

I couldn't imagine anything better than spending 10 days in Europe with your best friend, your soul mate, the 1 person that can bring you more joy than you ever knew. We always have so much fun together and this trip was no exception. I love you Cody. I loved spending 10 days straight with you and only you. Thanks for letting me follow my dreams, and for coming along for the ride. This trip something I have wanted to do forever and I will treasure the memory always. Hopefully we can continue to travel together our whole lives through. Love you Babe!

Paris- City of Lights

Thanks to Angela Williams for all the tips about France! And the key French phrases she taught us. The French people are incredibly nice and helpful! Thanks to Mandi for the Rick Steve’s books- without them we would have been lost!
We arrived in Paris on Tuesday and went straight to check in at the hotel. We rested for a bit then headed out to see Paris’ main attraction- the Eiffel Tower. Cody planned our itinerary for Paris and he couldn’t wait to see it. We walked from our hotel through Luxembourg Gardens. Some of the leaves were changing for fall and it was a pretty walk. We headed over to Rue Cler- a street one of our books recommended as a good place to eat dinner. The street has one of Paris’ oldest buildings, a pharmacy, and a good example of Paris Culture. We had some great French food for dinner at Café du Marche, recommended by our book. We loved the sauce on the pork we ordered! Funny Story- In Europe they don’t give you ice if you order water and rarely ever will they bring you just water, usually they offer mineral or sparkling water. I was tired of the water so I decided to order a drink. They only thing they had without alcohol was Sprite or Coke- Sprite it was. To our amazement the Sprite came with ice- lots of ice in a small glass. We quickly drank it and asked for another. The waitress took forever and brought it almost at the end of our meal, another small glass, lots of ice, barely any Sprite. When we got the bill we were charged 3.50 Euros for each glass- which means we spent about $12 on less than a can of Sprite- I could have bought 4 cases for that at home!

The Eiffel Tower was amazing. We decided to go all the way to the top and we got up there just before sunset. It was beautiful! It was so clear you could see for miles. It was quite the romantic place. We got to see the Tower all lit up on our way home and there was a special light show that made the Tower look like it was glistening. It was amazing! Luxembourg Gardens

The Eiffel Tower

Yay- can't believe we actually were there! It was awesome! We learned that they originally built it for the World Fair and intended for it to be disassembled following the event. We rode the elevator to the top instead of climbing stairs.

Pretty views from the 2nd level. Paris is very romantic. We got there at the perfect time.

Trocadero Square- right in front of the tower.

The sparkling lights!  As we walked away the whole tower sparkled like it was bidding us farewell! Cody got a great shot from the middle of the street!

It twinkled for awhile that night! It was amazingly beautiful!

The next day we started on foot and walked to the Pantheon for a quick tour. It was cold and windy you can tell in the pics. Then headed to Notre Dame Cathedral. Notre Dame was pretty cool. I loved the stained glass windows. It was weird to walk in and around during their Mass Ceremony but they let us in. We then made the trip up to the top of the Cathedral to check out the gargoyles and the bell. Then down below to the crypt. We had a crepe and a yummy ham and cheese sandwich for lunch.

The Pantheon- brrr...


                                          Lots of art and statues

Notre Dame

We waited in a cold line so we could climb to the top of the cathedral. Cody loved meeting the Chimeras.

That evening we went over to Champs-Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe and do some shopping. We went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and we were quite entertained watching the chaotic traffic in the round-about below. From there we headed to the Louvre Museum for the evening. Neither of us are big into art but because we took our generals at BYU we had some Art history/Humanities background. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, the Law Code of Hammurabi and many other famous works of art.

Arc de Triomphe

The view of Paris from the top of the Arc

The Louvre Museum-
We would get so excited when we recognized Art!

Cody recognized this piece of history from one of his art history classes- he was pretty excited as you can tell. It was fun to see all the artwork- sometimes you wonder what made some so popular and not others. The museum is huge and filled with all kinds of art.

The Louvre Museum- Loved the lights.

Mona Lisa- Kinda small huh?!?!

Thursday we headed to Versailles. It was fun to see where the kings lived and see the manicured gardens with fountains and statues galore! We toured the Chateau, the main palace. It had a chapel and a hall of mirrors that was amazing. Then we wandered over to the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette, the Queen’s estate. It was a pretty pink marble color. We also found the Love Dome-(Paris is all about the romance) And some swan to play with. The whole thing covers acres of land and it was a long walk! It was cold and windy that day so we enjoyed some hot cocoa, a Belgian waffle and a baguette sandwich along the way.


The Love dome.

The chapel in the chateau- Pretty ceiling.

Cody having a good time.

The Hall of Mirrors

The gardens are huge and very cool. Ponds, statues, etc. You can see why the royality loved it here. The people were so nice to us. Cody loved Paris the most! I really liked both London and Paris. This was the trip of a lifetime for us. We are so glad we were able to go experience all Paris had to offer. Even though we were only there 3 days we felt as if we did it all!

Now off to Rome...