The Great Catch Up...

Guess I'll just sum it up with: a lot has gone on up here in Spokane since I last posted.  In August. I'll blame most of that on my favorite new iPhone that has rendered this poor desktop computer practically non-existent. Every time "unplug from technology" was mentioned in General Conference this weekend I cringed because I am so guilty of Facebooking about every 20 minutes throughout the day. I keep having good intentions of deleting it off of my phone but haven't actually done it because lets face it, I NEED every update on everything every 20 minutes. You know.

Life here in Spokane has been pretty great for us. We have some of the best friends that have become our family here.

 We started off the year with an awesome event in Spokane aptly named "Pig Out in the Park". And yes, we were all over that. It was an amazing collection of literally every food you could ever want stuffed into one city park, dipped in butter, wrapped in bacon, then deep fried and frosted. I'll just say, we were in heaven. Jaren indulged in a nice Navajo Taco while I settled for a HUGE bacon wrapped hot dog and fire roasted corn on the cob. We finished off the night with some delicious, fresh pumpkin doughnuts. Our friends tried a large nest of cheese fries and other delicious, greasy delights. It was a great way to kick off the school year!

I was also able to head over the hill a ways with friends Hillary and Kelsie to Greenbluff. It is a gorgeous farm-y area with a bunch of "pick your own produce" farms. I guess throughout the year they have lots of berries, vegetables, apples, peaches, etc. We headed up around the end of peach season and picked peaches off of the trees. It was so fun (minus a small earwig down the shirt) and I have been craving peaches ever since!


In October, we got the MOST exciting news that baby Sandberg was on its way! I found out that Jaren LOVES sharing good news with the world and we had fun thinking up fun ways to share our good news with our family. At 12 weeks, we got to hear our little "false positive's" heart beat and then at 18 weeks we got to see that the baby had 2 arms, 2 legs, and a brain! And even more important that it was a SHE! We also discovered that she was not very coordinated and that she already has inherited her dad's self-confidence; she is definitely #1 in our hearts already!! Baby girl starting kicking around 16 weeks and hasn't stopped since. She is now 30 weeks and we can't even wait to meet her! Here is the progression of Baby Belly so far: 16, 20, 24, and 30 weeks (don't mind the lovehandles!!). She must be getting big. Doctor told us that she is 30-40 percentile and will most likely be 6 ish pounds when she is born. That is just fine with this mama!! We love her already!

In October, we and our friends had a fun Halloween party! Jaren and I dressed up like vampires! We have never dressed up for Halloween together, so of course we went a little overboard... But we looked pretty awesome. The best part was the black hair dye coating EVERY surface of our bathroom for months even after multiple deep cleanings. ..."Maybe we should have sprayed our hair ourside like it said to on the bottle" said Jaren after we realized what a mess we made. Yes, yes but that would have been way too smart.

My mom and brother and sister came to visit us in October and it was SO good to have them come! They stayed near Coeur d'Alene their first night here and I got to drive out and visit them after work. We walked around the lake the next morning and got to catch up, went shopping and to lunch in Coeur d'Alene and then headed back home to hang out with Jaren. We went on a little tour of Spokane, Gonzaga, Manito Park, and I took them up to Greenbluff hoping to introduce them to pumpkin doughnuts but after an hour of waiting in a long line of cars to even get to the place, we decided not to wait in the long line for pumpkin doughnuts.  Instead we picked up some overpriced pumpkins and headed home.  We did have lots of fun carving them, learned that my mom hates the texture of pumpkin guts and that Dalyn can't spell (and is pretty girl crazy). Fun Pumpkins!! We were so sad to see them leave! Sorry the drive is SO long!

In November, it was mostly just work... school etc. etc. We did host a fun Thanksgiving at our little apartment. I even made the Turkey! We had a few other couples over who brought more good food! Everything was delicious except I overcooked the potatoes a bit... But hopefully nobody noticed but me! We had about 2 pies per person which was just about right :) I think I ate leftovers for a week straight! I love Thanksgiving!

December was the end of finals for Jaren and Christmas break! It was so fun to have him home for a while. My job kept me pretty busy, but we managed to have some fun.  Kiley and Kennan drove up to be with us on Christmas and would you know it, Santa's Helper Carol found us clear up in Spokane. Our little tree was stuffed. She sure never disappoints on Christmas. Thank you mom!!! We love you! We had so much fun with Kiley and Kennan! We got to go out to dinner a couple times, went to some movies (Les Miserables on opening day!!), got to tour the beautiful cathedral here in Spokane and spent lots of time eating treats and being lazy! Jay and JeriDell were also able to come up for a Christmas visit! We loved having them and felt so bad that poor JeriDell was so sick the whole time! We got to tour the waterfall downtown, see The Hobbit (again) with Jay, watch some of Jaren's Christmas movies, and went out to eat at Chili's! We love having family here and were sad to see them all go!

I got to go home to visit my family and see my dad in January! It was so good to be home for a few days. My dad showed us this bakery in North Salt Lake/Centerville (??) area that had the largest, most spectacular selection of doughnuts that I have ever seen. I think I know where I inherited my love for doughnuts and baked goods; my dad was just about as excited as I was at the doughnut wall from heaven. I got to stay with my mom for a couple nights and got to meet her new "pets"... Two large black widows. I was a little afraid for my life. Also got to stay with Kiley for a few nights, visited my work friends and got to see Cara, Avree, and their kids. It was such a fun trip!

In February I got to go home again. My mom got married to Ken Harris. It was a great day and it was fun to catch up with extended family!! Wish them SO much happiness!!

Jaren has and is still working like crazy learning to be a lawyer! We can't believe the first year is already about over. He did great his first semester and seems to be doing well so far this semester. He is gearing up for finals and has been at school all day studying and going to classes. Only a few more weeks till he will get a well deserved break! Love him, I'm proud of him! 

Jaren convinced me to quit my job at the nursing home a little earlier than I had planned (I guess I was a little stressed and moody....? Or maybe a LOT). Haha. So now, while I am a little bored at times, I feel a little (LOT) more sane and happy. It has been nice to relax and get stuff ready for our little June bug! I have tried to keep busy with little projects. Jaren got me a sewing machine for Christmas and I have been able to whip a few things up: a blanket, a carseat cover, and a nursing cover. I finished a book and now have about 4 more to finish. I have been having fun hanging out with the girls up here. A few of the girls got together to throw me and two other mommies to be the cutest triple baby shower! It was SO cute and I loved every minute of it!

Other news of note: We bought an ice cream maker! I think we have a new best friend. Sorry for the XXL blog post. I will try to keep more up to date!

Spokane!

We have officially settled into our new home here in Spokane.  And yes, it became official because we had our very first Friday Night Pizza Bash last night with a bunch of new friends.  It was complete with YouTube videos and all.  It's like we never left (minus the fact that there was no family among the crowd... Sad!). There are two other law school couples that live on the floor above us: Paige and Nick and Destiny and Chase, and a cute little family in the next building over: Hillary, Peter, Atticus, and Beau.  We also met Kelsie and Josh who live down the road a ways.  We have had lots of fun so far, and we have a whole 3 years to have even more!

Jaren has already been hitting the books hard.  I am so proud of how hard he is working and I am always amazed at how smart he is. It is 10:00 am on Saturday morning and he has already been out playing basketball at the church and now is down at the school studying again! I can tell he is going to do great at law school! Look out Gonzaga!

  I have been job searching for the past two weeks since we got here, and finally found a job!  I am secretly nervous but I am excited to have something productive to do to keep me busy! The job is at a care center downtown just west of Gonzaga and it is called North Central Care Center.  I'll keep you updated on how it goes!! I start orientation on Monday at 7am.  Wish me luck!

The move up here went surprisingly well.  Loading the moving truck was quick thanks to Jaren and Dalyn my moving men! We got the truck around 9:00 am and by 10:45 we were on the road!  The drive was smooth, uneventful, and yes.... pretty long and boring.  But we both had books on tape to keep us company! We spent the night in Missoula Montana and then drove the rest of the way the next morning.  Unloading the truck was pretty quick too and was even better because Nick was SO nice to help Jaren unload the big furniture.  We are loving our apartment.  At first, I was in love with little things like having outlets, fans, cabinets, and drain plugs in the bathrooms.  I also have REALLY enjoyed having a washer and dryer, diswasher, and  garbage disposal!!

We miss everyone back in Utah so much!  We love seeing pictures of our nieces and nephews, even though they are just growing up too fast without us! I am sad to be missing Dalyn's cross country and Kennady's volleyball seasons! Kiley started the second year of nursing school yesterday (jealous much....? YES!!) and Kennan got a good score on the GRE for his grad school! Way to go! Kaitlyn and Nelson are settling in to their new home and having a blast together! My mom is workin' hard like always! It was fun to hear about Jay and Jeri Dell's fun trip back east and about some good news in the Ethington family! We loved seeing Kate the Kitty Cat Princess and Marin on her first day of school! We love you and MISS you all! Hopefully we will get to see you around Christmas time! 

The {GRADUATING} Sandbergs.

Would you ever believe that Jaren made it through college?  He graduates this Saturday, May 5 with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science.  He is a smart kid.  He has been accepted to Gonzaga University School of Law and we will be moving to Spokane in August.

I finished my first year of nursing school and will be able to take my LPN test in May.  I will probably be done with school for a while unless I can find a program willing to let me in up in Spokane.  We are both excited to move, but sad to be leaving behind all of our family!!

Other News of Note:
I planned a party! My best friend is getting married in June and I threw her a bridal shower bash!  There were TONS of people that came and we all had a blast. Here is the spread and the guest of honor!

Now that the year is almost over, I guess I should catch up a little on what we have been up to.  We finished up Fall Semester and have been LOVING Christmas Break.  Whoever decided that college kids should get a 3-4 week Christmas Break should get a prize.

We spent HANKSGIVING in Brigham City with about 50 family members from the Hanks side of the family.  We had enough food for a large army. Grandma and Grandpa Hanks were able to join us after returning home from Samoa at the beginning of November.  I hung out around the dessert table all afternoon. It was great to get together with family and to see how big all the kids are getting!

 We got a new nephew!  Little James Ethington was born early in December and we absolutely love him already!  Avree let me do a little photo shoot of him when he was about a week and a half old.  It was harder than I thought it would be, but he is SO handsome!  

 

 

 

Jaren injured his foot while playing church basketball and got a full set of foot and ankle X-rays, a CT scan and a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon just to determine that yes, Jaren injured his foot/ankle, no he did not break 2 bones in his foot, yes one bone was chipped, yes he tore some tendons/ligaments, and yes he is one of 10% of the population with a bone in his foot that does not fuse correctly which is why they thought he broke his foot in the first place.  Poor Jaren.  He had to turn in his Beaver Mountain Season Ski Pass so he can recover over 6-8 weeks. As of this morning he can finally walk around without his walking boot a bit so I think we might be able to turn in his crutches!

Christmas this year was awesome! Dalyn was part of a great choir concert put on by Box Elder High School.  I am so glad  he loves choir just as much as I did!  Jaren, Kennady, and I were able to visit my dad on Christmas Eve morning.  We hoped it would be a good Christmas surprise for him. We spent Christmas Eve at our house watching the kids play with Spencer's new criss-cross-crash toy.  It was definitely a crowd pleaser.  Even little Andrew was excited about it.  Jaren and I opened presents at our apartment Christmas morning and then went over to Cara and Mitch's house for an awesome Christmas Breakfast.  Marin and Kate showed us their awesome train set and Spencer told us about his tunnels that Santa brought him.  After breakfast, we went to Brigham City to open presents at my moms house.  She never fails to impress. :)  It is always fun to see everyone open presents!  After Brigham City, we headed back over to Avree's house for a delicious dinner and a Christmas Music Program led by Matt.  I showed off my awesome guitar skills on my brand new guitar.  We got to sing Christmas carols (which is secretly one of my favorite Christmas traditions).  Matt and Cara were able to play the guitar and piano, and Matt, Jay, and Matt's dad sang a beautiful trio.  It was a fun night to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

Jay and Jeri Dell treated us to dinner at Firehouse Pizza last night.  Spencer showed us how he could be a garbage truck to drink his water, and Kate enjoyed her crayon appetizer.  Marin learned about the rule of throwing salt over your shoulder if you spill it and we all enjoyed pizza!  We even got a free dessert because we had to wait a little longer than normal.  Afterwards we went to Cara's house to play games.  We played Just Dance on the Wii and got to see everyone's mad dancing skills.  I must agree with Jeri Dell that Cara is a very talented dancer. Avree and I will have to practice up to match her skills.  

We have such a great family and loved spending so much time with them over Christmas!  Hopefully this next year will be just as fun as this one has been.  Jaren has heard from 4 Law Schools so far (Tulsa, Albany NY, University of Idaho, and Northern Kentucky) so as much as we hope to stay in Utah, we could be headed just about anywhere next summer!

So to all we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

A song.

Just loving this song right now. 

Summer 2K11 Part 2

 In July, we went on the annual river trip hosted by Kiley and Kennan!! We had a blast!  The water was really high and REALLY COLD.  Cold enough that I felt pretty good about not pushing anyone in until one of the last trips.  We had a big group of people come up and we made some good runs!  Jaren and Kennan brought their GoPro cameras, so we were able to REALLY capture ALL of the action. ;)

One trip down, I was riding in the little kayak with Kennan's brother, Brandon.  I was SO nervous the whole time because I had never been through Lunchcounter in something that small before.  I kept making Brandon promise he wouldn't let me drown when we tipped over.  As we were dropping down in the HUGE hole, I was sure we were goners.  But then... we hit it perfect!! And we didn't even tip over!  And then we bragged about it for the next fifteen minutes.  And the GoPro caught it all.  :)

Well, all was still well, and Brandon and I were still reminiscing about the awesome run, when we realize that Champagne rapid is coming up.  Eh, just Champagne, no big deal.  We got through just fine and took on a good amount of water.  Just after the rapid, a big whirlpool came and flipped us around pretty quick. Brandon stuck the paddle in to turn us around but the current caught it just right, sucked him and the back of the boat down, and I feel him go out.  Luckily, (or so I thought), I stayed in the kayak.  Brandon started floating down river and then I realized... I was stuck in an eddy.  With. No. Paddle. The rest of the group was way down river.  .  .  .  .  .  Great .  . . . .

So I did the only logical thing.  I hunkered down and started paddling with my hands.  After a minute or two, I finally got myself turned around and caught the current.  I could see the boat up ahead pulling Brandon in with an escape rope.  As I got closer, one of the boys on the boat grabbed a second rescue rope, wound up, and..... was only about 50 feet short.  Ok, no big deal, I think to myself.  They will come catch up to me in just a second.  I look ahead and see that I am quickly headed towards Cottonwood, one of the longest rapids on the river, which at this water level has some pretty good sized waves.  Oh no.

The boat in the meantime, had fished Brandon out of the water, almost left Nathan Spencer on the banks of the river, but was headed my way.  I hit the first little rollers of Cottonwood, still steering with my hands trying not to let myself flip sideways cause I knew I would flip.  The people on the boat were paddling hard to try to catch me.  We all cheered as they passed off the paddle and I was rescued!

Summer 2K11 Part I

Well it has only been a little while since I posted last.  It has been pretty crazy here at our house lately.  Jaren and I both started school at Utah State again.  Jaren is a senior majoring in Political science and is getting ready to apply for a bunch of law schools here in the next couple of months.  I am heading into my fourth week of Nursing school at the Weber/USU cooperative program.  I made it through the first and second week breakdowns and managed to get a fairly good grade on my first test.  I have been studying basically every spare moment, so hopefully it will continue to pay off. I am taking a guitar class. I am pretty bad.

I am going to recap our summer a bit.  Mostly for memory and scrapbooking sake.

May
We got back from Washington DC at the beginning of May.  We were pretty proud of ourselves that we made awesome time: 2 days to drive across basically the whole country.  We both took alternating 5 hour driving shifts.  I should have never let Jaren know I was capable of driving that long.  Now he makes me drive more on long trips.  We got to see some of the flooding that was happening along the Mississippi River as we drove through.  It was pretty intense.  We stayed at my mom's house in Brigham City for a couple days until we got all of our stuff moved back into our apartment in Logan.  Everything seemed so wide open compared to Washington DC.  I was amazed that 2nd east in Logan would probably be a 6 lane street in DC.  (Ok probably not that many, but it seemed HUGE!)  We love that there are no speed humps here.  LOVE.  It was so great to be home and to see our family and friends again!  We got to meet Andrew James Moncur who was born just a few days before we made it home.  He is so cute and we love him! We both started back at work full time and were lucky to both get our previous jobs back.  That month we played a lot of sand volleyball with friends.  Jaren went undefeated for at least a month and was pretty proud of himself for it, but don't worry he lost a few times once his streak was broken.

Goodbye Washington DC!

Towards the end of May, Kaitlyn graduated from high school.  We all celebrated by going out to Olive Garden for dinner.  She is now going to Utah State as well!  We love having her so close!

 For Memorial Day weekend we went camping at North Fork with my Hanks family.  Its tradition.  (Although, a crazy one.)  We got there and pitched our tents and played with Dalyn's airsoft guns while more of the family arrived.  A big moose kept walking through the field and through the trees just across from the campground.  Dalyn and Jaren got some pictures of it and Moe had to run down to make sure they didn't get too close to the thing. I can't remember for sure, but it seems like we had somewhere between 50-60 people up there all together.  The first night, it was SO COLD.  Impressively cold. But we woke up to yummy pancakes and hot chocolate to warm us up.  That day, some of the cousins and I started playing soccer in the field and soon after we had a pretty good game of soccer going.  It was so fun because the youngest player was probably 6 and the oldest was 24 (Jaren).  Everyone was actually pretty good!  We had a lot of fun!  Aunt Sandy brought her Consecutive Reader boards for everyone to make.  What a great idea!  Saturday night, was even colder than the first night.  It was raining so Moe and Jaren set up a shelter under the shade canopy thing and we all sat by the propane heaters to try to get warm.  We even roasted marshmallows over them to make s'mores.  Jaren and I borrowed an extra sleeping bag that night and we stayed a lot warmer than the night before.  About 2 hours after we had fallen asleep, I woke up to Jaren calling out, "Hello?  Who's there?!"  I was instantly terrified.  And confused.  Our nice new tent was gone and we were in some tiny tent that was very close to our faces.  But then Jaren realized what was going on.  He started to hit the sides of the tent and something started to slip off and fall to the ground.  He started laughing a little because it was snowing and the weight of the snow made the tent twist in on itself and collapse enough to where it was just inches from our faces.  We were awake about every 1/2 hour the rest of the night to a collapsed tent and had to keep hitting snow off the tent.  Needless to say, everyone who was still there in the morning began to pack up and head home early.  Bethany and Dave left during the night with their kids and their poor tent was destroyed by the snow.  The poles had snapped under the weight of the snow.  My mom's shade canopy was completely mangled and everything was a soppy, muddy, snowy mess.  The funny thing is this type of weather isn't an abnormal occurance for us.  We have had our fair share of awful weather at North Fork over Memorial Day.  After 20 years of carrying on this tradition, I think people are finally realizing that perhaps another time and another place might be in order.  But rain or shine ... or snow, we have had some great times and have many memories at North Fork!