Kyle and Jessy Erickson

Jessica Erickson Photography Blog now live!

2011-08-15T00:45:00.000-07:00

I have been taking my photography to a higher level. That has meant doing some mentoring with Jolie Anne Photography, buying new equipment and props, and getting familiar with new software and editing. I've put a lot of effort into it, and I feel like it is paying off. I just put a new blog together for my photography. Please check it out:)

http://jessicaericksonphotographyblog.com

Lorelei Update :)

2011-08-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

Lorelei said Dada today. I’m not sure she knows what she’s saying, but she sure does like to say it. She kept saying, “Dada dada dada dada.” So, I called Kyle to leave him a message, but, of course, as soon as it went to voice mail, she would stop saying it. Little stinker! Then I’d hang up and she’d start all over again!

She also started doing the butt scoot while on the floor and butt jumping on the bed. She can almost get to a standing position when she’s on the bed. She sits up and jumps from her butt. So cute!

It is just so fun to see her progress. She is moving around so much more now. She rolls from her back to her stomach, but forgets she knows how to roll back, gets mad, and cries at me until I roll her over. She can almost crawl. She’ll be in a sitting position, see something she wants, and lean forward until she ends up on her stomach. Her legs start moving, but her tummy is so big that she hasn’t gotten it up off the floor yet. J If I put my hands behind her feet, she does this army crawl thing until she gets to whatever she wants. It is pretty fun.

She LOVES to stand up and LOVES to go for walks around the house. I have to hold her under her arm pits, but she just loves to walk around. The last week she has almost started prancing around the house. She thinks it’s the best thing ever! In fact, if she is sitting close to you, she’ll grab on to your arm or whatever she can grab and try to pull herself up to a standing position.

She also LOVES the mirror. When I walk into the bathroom, she automatically smiles at herself in the mirror. She will sit in front of the mirror and smile at herself for an hour at a time. She loves the baby. I sit her on the counter while I do my hair and make up. I have to be really careful she doesn’t buck herself off the counter, but she loves being in the action and right there with me. She plays with my make up and brush, when I let her, and tries to turn on the water. The handle is shiny and she likes that!

Her FAVORITE toy, as of the last two weeks, is Kyle’s toothbrush. She stole it out of his toiletry bag when he was home one weekend and would cry if you tried to take it away. So, Kyle just gave it to her. It stays in the bathroom and she plays with it while I shower and get ready. Boy does she love that toothbrush! And she doesn’t even have any teeth yet. J

Lorelei goes to the Pool

2011-07-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 29^th, Lorelei was officially 6 months old, so we decided to take her to the pool for the first time to celebrate. Kyle got home a lot later than expected, and we fell asleep, so by the time we got to the pool it was really late and we didn’t spend much time in it, but I think Lorelei likes it. We’ll have to see later.

Kyle goes to Prescott

2011-07-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

Kyle is doing a rotation in Prescott. He stays there all week and only comes home on the weekend. It sucks! I do not like being a single mom.

The saddest part of having him gone is watching Lorelei look for him. I’ve been letting her sleep in bed with me. Most of the time she is on her side facing me, but in the morning she rolls over to say good morning to Daddy, only Daddy isn’t there. It is SO SAD! She looked for him all morning Monday morning. She looked less and less throughout the week. Then when he showed up Friday night, she seemed a little hesitant. Saturday she was being a mama’s girl and didn’t want him much, but then Sunday she seemed sad he was leaving again. It breaks my heart to watch her miss him, and she’s only 5 1/2 months old!

Fourth Of July!!

2011-07-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July was pretty fun. We walked over to the park with Cassie and Paul, but it ended up being kind of lame and hot, so we walked right back home. When we went to the fireworks, Lorelei fell asleep on the walk over. I was so worried she would wake up when the big booms of the fireworks started, but NO, SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE THING! And it was loud too!

Noises in church:)

2011-06-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

Robin came for a visit this weekend and loves her granddaughter. Lorelei has started making the cutest noises. Lorelei makes this inhaling noise that sounds like she’s really shocked at whatever you just said. So, there we are at church with Robin and two really cool things happened. First off, while we were in Relief Society during the opening hymn, Lorelei started to stare at me while I was singing. She was mesmerized. I kept thinking she would look away, but no, she stared at me during the whole song with this sweet little smile like expression on her face. Robin kept saying, “Oh my goodness, look at that. That is so sweet! Has she ever done that before?” She hadn’t. It was really cool to see her just watching Mom sing. I sing to her a lot, usually funny songs about poop or about how pretty she is, so it was nice that I felt like she recognized my voice. J

Then, during the lesson, the teacher asked a question, “So, how can service help us in our lives?” and Lorelei made her inhaling noise. Everyone laughed because it sounded like she was reacting to some shocking or provocative question. Then someone commented, “When we serve others, it helps us feel better about ourselves.” Again, Lorelei made her inhaling noise, again everyone laughed. It was hilarious, but I had to take her out because no one was listening to the lesson anymore.

Boards are OVER!

2011-06-24T23:44:00.000-07:00

Kyle took his second board exam today. YAY for being done with boards. We do hope all of his studying pays off, but we’re just so glad to be done!

Kyle took his boards

2011-06-18T23:41:00.000-07:00

Kyle took his first board exam today. It is OVER, and that’s all that matters! YAY!! He has another test next week, but at least we’ve got one down.

Lorelei can sit up all by herself

2011-06-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

I put Lorelei on the couch sitting up against the back like I always do. Only today, she sat forward and sat up all by herself! Yay for baby Lorelei!

Lorelei's first airplane flight

2011-06-05T00:31:00.000-07:00

Lorelei had her very first airplane flight! I read that you should feed them on the way up and on the way down so that their ears don’t pop and hurt them. So, we worked our way up to nursing once or twice a day around 5 and 7, the same time as the flight. I was hoping the plane would be pretty empty so we could have a row to ourselves, but it wasn’t. I sat in the window seat. A man came and said, “Don’t you worry about her making noise. I’m going to have a beer or two, so I won’t be bothered at allJ.” He smiled and sat in the aisle seat. I had kind of spread out with one diaper bag underneath my feet and one underneath the middle seat. The guy next to me said, “Oh this is perfect, we can both put our stuff in the middle!” It was working out great!

Lorelei started to fuss. I figured it would take her a while to eat, so by the time we were up she would still be eating, so I started to feed her. Now, mind you, we had a cover up on, so no one could see anything. A guy came to our row, looked at me, and with a disgusted look on his face said, “Awh. Are you nursing her?” I said yes. He said, “Right now?!” He looked disgusted and started looking around for any other seat on the plane! After a moment of awkwardness, a woman behind me said, “You can sit here and I’ll sit by her,” then looked at me and said, “I’ve been there before,” and smiled. The guy looked at here totally relieved and said, “Oh thank you.” I was almost in tears! What a jerk! If he had any idea how hard it is to nurse, let alone nurse on a plane, he would give me a medal, not look at me disgusted. And, by the way, I am doing this so my daughter doesn’t scream the whole flight in pain. So, really, I’m doing this for YOUR stupid convenience, you idiot!!!

Anyway, it ended up being the best thing that could have happened. The woman that sat next to us has a daughter my age that she’s hoping will have a kid soon, and she said that when her daughter flies, she would want someone to help her out like she’s helping me! What a sweet, wonderful, person! God bless her, wherever she is! She played with Lorelei, held her, helped me change her blown out diaper (yeah that was lots of fun…not!), and smiled and cooed at her. She was just so wonderful the whole flight! She also let me leave my second diaper bag under her feet. SOOOO NICE!!!! She was such an answer to prayers!

Happy First Mother's Day

2011-05-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother’s Day! It is my very first Mother’s Day! Lorelei slept in bed with me for half an hour before I got up to get ready. She is so cute! I got a new diaper bag for Mother’s Day/my birthday. It is a Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag and I LOVE IT! Lorelei doesn’t hate to be changed anymore because it has a soft pad attached to it to change her on. It is super cute and can be used as a shoulder bag or a back pack. LOVE!

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T00:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! Lorelei looked SO CUTE in her purple flower Easter dress complete with purple headband and large white flower. Church was really good! Lorelei and I hadn’t had time to feed/eat at home, so I fulfilled my lifelong dream of nursing her in the mother’s room. Silly dream, I know, but I’d always wanted to do it! So, she ate during Sacrament meeting and then pooed a TON and almost blew out her diaper. I walked as fast as I could back into the chapel, got the diaper bag from Kyle and then went as fast as I could to the bathroom. Lorelei does NOT like getting changed at church. I think it’s because the table isn’t very soft. Anyway, got her changed and then she puked all over me and her cute outfit. L At least it wasn’t poop! She slept for pretty much the rest of church. Such a cutie!

Lorelei Rolls OVER

2011-04-23T00:28:00.000-07:00

We were doing tummy time with Lorelei tonight, which she hates, so after a minute of frustrated crying, she decided she was done doing tummy time and ROLLED OVER all by herself! We thought it might be a fluke, so we put her back on her tummy and got out the video camera. Sure enough, she rolled over again. WOW! Good job baby girl!

Laughing Little Lorelei

2011-04-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

Lorelei laughed at me today! She really laughed! She’s giggled and cooed before, but this was a hearty laugh in response to me making a funny noise. She liked it and laughed. It was so cute! We tried to video tape it and sort of got it, but it was a harder laugh before we got out the video camera. She would laugh, which made me laugh, which made her laugh harder. It was pretty darn cute!! I love this little girl!

Rattles are shaking:)

2011-04-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

Lorelei held the rattle in her hand for the first time today. We have to put it in her hand, but she can hold it and move it around and make it make noise. Again, I’m not sure she knows she’s doing it, but she loves the noises.

The Play Mat

2011-04-02T00:26:00.000-07:00

I got Lorelei’s playmat out today during General Conference. She LOVES it! She started playing with toys for the first time today. She doesn’t know she’s doing it, but when her arm or leg hits the rattles and makes them make noise, she gets all excited and moves more and makes more noise. It’s pretty cute. She LOVES the crinkley noise the flower on the mat makes. She also has these little bracelets that make the crinkley noise and have a rattle on them. She loves it! Yay, she can play. J

My Little Princess

2011-03-18T00:25:00.000-07:00

So my days (and nights) consist mostly of feeding Lorelei, getting milk everywhere, then getting thrown up on, usually in an inconvenient place, changing diapers, trying to pump while she screams, and holding her while she sleeps/goes to sleep. I guess I got what I wanted…a little princess. She loves to be held. She’s ok to lie on the couch or in her swing for about 5-10 minutes, but after that she wants someone to hold her. She loves the warmth and body heat. We have to wait until she is REALLY asleep before we put her in her pack and play at night or she will wake up in a second and it will take another ½ hour to 2 hours to get her back to sleep. Little Princess!

Lorelei's Blessing

2011-03-06T22:22:00.000-08:00

Lorelei had her baby blessing today. She did a great job, but she had us really worried! Right before, during the opening song, she started crying. Kyle and I had to make a quick decision to feed her a 2 ounce bottle super fast. Ken had a burp rag and a binkie to shove in her mouth if she started to fuss, which he did. Chris had a burp rag and the tape recorder to record the blessing. Both had instructions to make sure she didn’t throw up on the dress! All went well. Binkie in mouth and no throw up! Kyle did a great job. I cried! The part that stuck out to me was that she JUST came from Heavenly Father. She really is just on loan to us.

Lorelei's Newborn Photos

2011-02-25T00:16:00.000-08:00

Lorelei had her newborn photos taken by Jolie Anne Photography. She did a GREAT job and we feel like our baby girl is pure art! :)

Lorelei Abigail Erickson Born January 29th!!

2011-02-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the world baby girl! Lorelei was born January 29th. She and Mom are doing well, but were very tired for a few days. More details to come, but I thought I'd get a few pictures up:)

Counting Down for Baby

2011-01-24T10:44:00.001-08:00

Baby Girl Erickson is due February 4th, but could come any day now. We got the crib set up and I've been crafting things for her. We're just about ready:)

Baby Showers

2011-01-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful baby shower in Davis while I was visiting for the holidays. Everyone was so generous! Cassie made an awesome diaper cake as well as some really cool looking cupcakes! Thanks Cassie!

We had a second shower in Arizona put on by Aunt Lara. It was at the Ritz-Carlton and was a tea shower. Kyle's mom and my mom flew in for the weekend and Kjerstin and Steve drove down from Vegas. So much fun! The tea was elegant and relaxed! Lara's friends were incredible and gave us lots of cool stuff!

The third shower was the same day, but at night for my friends. My friends Angel and Jesica went all out with decorations and food. Robin made a onsie decorating station and a hair bow making station. We had an advise table and lots of food, including milkshakes which I have been craving a lot:) It was way fun! Thank you to everyone!!!

Christmas in California

2011-01-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

We spent our Christmas holiday in California with my family. It was fun! Kyle got a ton of shirt and tie sets for his rotations. It was fun to be with the family! We took some family pictures, but I haven't edited them yet, so to be posted soon.

For New Years Eve, we spent the evening with my parents making this incredibly difficult Lemon Cake. We used 2 pounds of butter, 16 eggs, and 14 lemons. Kyle was juicing lemons, dad was zesting lemons, I was whisking the lemon curd, and mom was whisking the lemon cream. After 20 minutes of whisking, I needed a break from leaning over the stove, so Mom took over my job and continued whisking for another 20 minutes. Well, we were whisking in a make shift double broiler, which meant a glass bowl over a regular pan. Right as Mom is about to give up on hitting the correct temperature, the glass bowl falls into the boiling water in the pot underneath! She screams, Dad's trying to find the potholder, and Kyle jumped. Then they got the bowl out and Mom is dabbing water out of the lemon cream. It ended up being ok, but what a process!

Thanksgiving!

2010-11-29T10:16:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was spent with the Erickson family in Ohio. We had lots of fun with Mom and Dad. Mom made an incredible dinner!! Dad went shopping with us on Black Friday! What a trooper! It was also fun to be with Kyle's brother's family and hang out with their kids, including brand new baby Andrew!

November Nauvoo Trip

2010-11-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry I am WAY not caught up, but in November we went to Nauvoo for a few days. It was really fun and nice to have Kyle not stuck to the books:) Kyle got to try Casey's Taco Pizza, one of my mission favorites. We got to see the sites and visit with some folks from my mission. It was lots of fun! Tessa and Gio even got to come for a night! We miss them so much!!!

Power Outage

2010-10-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

We had an interested morning. Kyle got up to study at 3:30 AM only to find out that the power was off in our whole neighborhood. He brushed his teeth and picked out his clothes to candle light while I set up candles and flashlights for his study session. He ended up studying until 6:30 AM by candle light and flashlight. It was pretty funny. Don't worry though, the power came on at 6:30 so they had no trouble giving the test at 7! Great! Kyle still did a great job on the test.

It was really nice to get a few phone calls from group members at 3:30 and 4:00 AM just making sure Kyle was up. It's nice to know we have friends looking out for us here. We've got a great sense of community and really enjoy being at school here.

The weather has FINALLY cooled down. It has been SOOO nice to be able to open the windows, go for a walk, and not sweat to death getting the mail.

Blood Glucose Test= Bouncing baby!

2010-10-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

I had my blood glucose test today for my pregnancy. It really wasn’t that bad. My appointment was kind of early, so I slept in, then drank the fruit punch glucose mixture an hour before my appointment. It just tasted like really sugary fruit punch. Not bad, just weird to have that much sugar so early in the morning.

The baby went nuts after all of that sugar. She kicked the doctor when he was listening to her heartbeat, she kicked me all the way home, and then she bounced off the womb walls while Kyle was home for lunch. We were even able to video tape it. Kyle said, "Holy CRAP! I've never seen her move that much!" She was going crazy. You didn’t even have to really focus on my stomach. I could see it out of my peripheral vision. My stomach would bounce out at LEAST an inch. She was flipping around and moving a TON! I think Kyle finally appreciated why I sometimes wake up at night because she’s kicking me. When she wants to, she can pack a powerful little punch. It’s pretty crazy since she’s only about 2 pounds! She’s going to be a tough one, but I hope not too tough.

20 Week Ultrasound

2010-09-22T22:06:00.000-07:00

We had our 20 week ultrasound today. Our little girl is developing very well. She has all of her toes and fingers and organs, and she is still a girl:) In the top picture, you can see her little face. She is 15 ounces. She had the hiccups, so her little chest kept moving up and down really fast every few seconds. Poor little thing:( I know it's normal and fine, but I already wanted to help her get rid of them and protect her from the big, bad hiccups.

If I had known how cool the appointment would be, I would have tried to make it when Kyle could come. I was so sad he couldn't be there. They went through all of her organs and bones and measured everything and checked everything. It was so fascinating to see her move and realize that I'm not crazy, she really has been kicking me in the stomach all week.

They tried to get a picture of both of her feet, but she kept moving, so we only got one.

Then I had to bring one home for Kyle of her spine.

Baby or Alien?

2010-09-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

So, I thought I had felt her move in the last two weeks, but there was no doubt about it this week. Today she was really kicking me. I had Kyle come over and put his hand on my stomach. She only kicked him once (she must like him more) and then stopped.

A couple of hours later, I was talking to my mom on the phone, and again felt some pretty serious kicks. So, I told my mom to hold on for a second and picked up my shirt to see if I could see it. Sure enough, there were a few more kicks and I could literally see my stomach moving!! I started to worry an alien was going to pop out and sing a song like on that movie that I can't remember the title of. It was a very weird sensation. Is she really kicking me? What did I do to her? Does she even know she's kicking me? Is that really her foot? Should I move? Should I not move? My mom says, "Oh that is so neat!" I guess the only way to get her to stop is to have Kyle try to feel it. Haha!

Happy Birthday Kyle!!

2010-09-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Kyle! This has been a CRAZY weekend, so we're going to actually celebrate after his test this week, but just wanted to say something on the actual day! I love my husband!

Feeling the Baby Move

2010-09-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

On September 2, 2010 I think I felt the baby move for the first time. I had eaten some food and was lying on the couch and I felt this movement feeling on my left side way down low almost by where your leg connects to your torso. (Kyle would know the exact muscles involved along with the technical term for the bones and where that spot is. Sorry I don’t know. J ) Anyway, so it felt like her leg or her head was moving around in there and accidentally hit a wall and was pushing off or something. I’m not really sure how to explain it, and yes, it’s possible it might have been something else, but it happened in the same spot a few times and then moved slightly and happened a few more times. I think my little girl was saying hello.J

When Kyle watches BYU football, he has a tendency to get really excited and to cheer and clap REALLY loudly. I mean so loudly that it hurts my ears! Last year, we went to Danielle and Dave’s house to watch the game with a whole bunch of friends. When the Cougars scored a touchdown, Kyle yelled and clapped, then all of the kids looked at him and started crying. He felt bad, but it was really funny. J

So, there we are after our sandwich fiasco, and the Cougars score a touchdown. Kyle screams and claps really loudly, and I felt the baby jump. I said, “Oh no, Kyle, you scared her!” He immediately bent over and started talking quietly to my stomach saying, “I’m sorry baby. I was just excited about the game. You’ll need to get used to that, but I’m so sorry I scared you.”

Last night at 3 AM, she decided it was a good time to do back flips. I normally like gymnastics, but maybe we can hold off on it until morning, please.

Being married to a medical student

2010-09-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

So, I hesitate to write this because it makes us both look silly, but the ending is just too funny, so here goes. I went to the store the other day and bought a loaf of french bread. When Kyle was helping me put the food away, I said, "We can use this to make some yummy sandwiches." He was excited about it.

The next day we decided to eat them for lunch while watching the BYU football game. I was in the back when Kyle decided to cut the bread. He cut one inch slices, put cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce on and then put on the other slice of bread. It was very nice of him to make the sandwiches, but the resulting sandwich was too large for me to get in my mouth. I said, "Honey, I'm confused. You cut the bread the wrong way."

He looked at me kind of weird and said, "Well, how did you want me to cut it?"

I said, "The long ways, like this," and showed him how I would have cut the bread. He still seemed confused, but told me he would make me another sandwich. I told him not worry about it and the game was starting anyway.

So we are sitting on the couch, watching the BYU football game, and I'm trying to get this monstrous sandwich in my mouth. I tried to get the sandwich in my mouth a few different ways. I even tried to smash the thing, but nothing worked, I got really frustrated, and ended up going to the kitchen to switch the middle around to make it an open faced sandwich. Well, I'm pregnant, which means I'm a little more emotional some days, plus there was some other stuff going on, and I had just had it. So, I start crying while I'm redistributing my sandwich ingredients in the kitchen. Kyle hears me, pauses the game and comes in the kitchen. "Honey, I said I would make you another sandwich." He hugged me for a bit and let me cry it out. I really was fine once I made it an open faced sandwich. We went back to the couch.

At the next commercial break I said, "Kyle, I'm just confused because I thought you were hungry. I thought you would want a bigger surface area for the insides of the sandwich too." Kyle looked confused so I added, "You know, like a six inch." Then all of a sudden, the light went on!

Kyle said, "You wanted a six inch?"

I said, "Well, maybe a four inch."

Kyle said, "Like a hoagie! Oh, I get it! No wonder you were upset."

I said, "I didn't realize that I had to tell you to lay the bread supine and cut it laterally."

Kyle said, "Well why didn't you say so? THAT I would have understood."

Oh boy! To be married to a medical student:)

It's a... GIRL!

2010-09-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

Jessy's mom and Kyle's mom and dad all came to Arizona and were with us in the ultrasound room. We all wore blue without coordinating it or knowing it until we got there. The tech put the ultrasound stuff on Jessy's tummy and said, "Well, you all wore the wrong color! It's a girl!" It was really fun to have everyone there. The little baby already has a few outfits thanks to her grandparents.

Kyle's parents were able to stay for about a week. We went shopping, out to dinner, watched movies, hung out at the pool and played lots of games. Kyle has started his second year of medical school. So far so good:)

Parents coming and first trimester over!

2010-08-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Kyle's parents come to visit next week along with my mom for a few days. We are really excited to have them come! We cleaned the whole house yesterday, but I'm sure my mom will still find something to clean when she gets here:) We go to the doctor on Wednesday to find out if we're having a boy or girl. Time is running out, so don't forget to VOTE! What will baby Erickson be?

I've been starting to feel a bit better. Still tired, but not so food averse and nauseous. Yeah! It's getting better!

Kyle finished up his TAing for anatomy. One of the students brought him cookies to thank him for his help. She made sugar cookies in the shape of body parts, so there was a heart, lips, bones, etc. Pretty darn cool! I want him to find her and get the recipe because they were amazing! The students put together some money so the teachers could take the TAs out to lunch too. How awesome is that! They must have done a really good job!

School starts for Kyle on the 30th. We're excited, but not too excited. We're enjoying the time off. We just finished our Lord of the Rings marathon. Which series will be next? :)

I'm PREGNANT!!!

2010-08-03T16:39:00.001-07:00

I am PREGNANT! I am due February 4th, so I'm over 13 weeks right now. To be honest, I'm not really digging the first trimester, so I hope it gets better and I can stop feeling sick in the afternoons. I can still function, but I am tired and don't want to eat anything.

Kyle has been great!! SO HELPFUL! The other night, all I wanted to eat was a baked potato from Texas Roadhouse. After much discussion of options that we had at home, Kyle went to the kitchen to start making french toast. As soon as he got stuff out I said, "Or we could go to Texas Roadhouse:) " He came back in the room smiling and told me to go get ready. What a sweet guy! He also dedicated the white board in our kitchen to tracking how much water I drink everyday. He's done dishes and helped with housework. I'm not looking forward to school starting again, but hopefully I will feel better soon:)

We will find out what we are having in a few weeks. What do you think? Boy or Girl? Please vote! :)

3 Week Tour of America!

2010-07-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

For our summer vacation, Kyle and I went on a three week tour of America:) Our first stop was to California to see my family. Paul and Cassie both graduated, Paul got his MBA and Cassie got her PHD. Wow, educated couple! We weren't able to be there for the actual graduations, but we got to celebrate with them with a few BBQs and family dinners.

During part of our stay, we went to Lake Tahoe to say goodbye to my grandmother's cabin. I have so many amazing memories of that place! It will be so sad to see it go:(

Next up was the Erickson Family Reunion in Park City, Utah. What a good looking bunch! I took a lot of photos of the family and they are up on my website. http://web.me.com/majestic_photography

Each couple had to make one breakfast and one dinner and do two activities for the family. It worked out really well. We had a blast! One thing we did was play kick ball. Check out these characters:)

And who wouldn't have fun with Robin around!

We went to church the following Sunday with Randy and Becky! Love them! We also got to spend some time with John and his family in their new house! Congratulations to them!

We also enjoyed dinner with Trev and Jessica. Miss you both tons and sad to not see Brad! We also got to see Will in a SWEET play and have dinner with him. Congrats Will! You rock!

Then we were off to Ohio for my brother, Paul's wedding! It was GREAT!!! Cassie was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I loved that my sweet brother couldn't hold back the tears when Cassie walked in. It was a touching and wonderful ceremony.

And my Mom looked pretty darn good herself! :)

While in Ohio, my parents and Kyle and I went to the Kirtland Temple. We had a very spiritual visit. The people were so nice and even stayed open late for us since we only had one day to be there:) We stayed a night at Kyle's parent's house. It is so fun to get our parents together. They laugh and have a great time! I LOVE that my parents and in-laws get along so well!!!!

Well, that's the condensed version! Sorry this was so long, but it was a long trip. Kyle and I were so happy to be home when we got home. We vowed not to go out to eat for at LEAST a week, but didn't want to go out for a month:)

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-05-12T21:09:00.000-07:00

I was NOT looking forward to this birthday, but it ended up being one of my favorite birthdays of all time. I had a dance lesson in the morning, then went to a movie by myself. It was the first time I've ever done that. I usually HATE going places alone, but it was actually great because I went to see "The Last Song" and cried the whole movie long. It was a good cry and I wasn't worried about anyone needing an explination:) Then I read a book by the pool and then Kyle took me to Olive Garden for dinner. All in all, a GREAT DAY!!

We celebrated with friends the weekend before and went to Maggiano's for dinner. Then Jesica made me a great cake covered in strawberries. Thanks guys! What a great birthday for me this year!

Sigma Sigma Phi

2010-05-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

Kyle was inducted to the Sigma Sigma Phi Fraternity on May 4, 2010. That means that he is in the top 15% of his class and is a good example of leadership. It is a big honor. Yay for Kyle!

Beautiful DAY

2010-05-01T17:30:00.001-07:00

OK, so the clouds were just AWESOME today! So, I had to take a picture of it and share it with you!

Tea Party Baby Shower for friend Lisa

2010-04-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

We had a Tea Party Baby Shower for my friend, Lisa. Here she is with her Mom. Lisa had her little baby girl on WEDNESDAY, and then came to her baby shower on Saturday! I thought she was crazy, but this is her third kid and I don't have any, so I wasn't going to say anything:) It was nice because her mom could be there and meet some of her friends. We had a great time! Here is Lisa with her Mom.

And here are friends Angel, Jill, and Jesica.

Here is the menu:

chicken salad on cranberry spice bread; cucumber, turkey, and raspberry cream cheese on apple bread; heath scones; cherry scones; mini quiches; lemon bars; rice krispy treats; amazing brownies; and tortillas with lemon cream topped with strawberries. Yeah, we ate pretty darn well!

And here is the REALLY cute onesy that Angel made for her. ADORABLE!!!!

It's Playoff Time! GO CAVS!!

2010-04-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

So, some of you might not know, but Kyle is a DIE HARD Cleveland Cavaliers fan. The playoffs started last week and so far we are winning 2 games to 0. Kyle HATES the Bulls player Noah, partly because he has ugly hair that he just won't cut and partly because he plays well which challenges the Cavs. You would think that if you made millions of dollars you could afford to get a haircut:) Noah said some not nice things about Cleveland which set off the fans. They booed whenever he got the ball in the first quarter. Pretty funny. So, if anyone wants to watch the Cavs play, we will be watching and DVRing all of the games, sitting in our lucky seats, wearing out lucky clothes and hats, and crossing our fingers for our Cavs. Let's go Cavs!

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! Angel made these super cute cupcakes and we had ham and funeral potatoes for dinner. It was great to celebrate with friends and family.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome St. Patrick's Day dinner with our friends. Angel made these amazing cookies that look like leprechaun hats. We had corned beef and cabbage, green rolls, green salad, green jello, and green punch. It was pretty darn great!

I RAN a HALF MARATHON!!!

2010-03-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

Today I ran a half marathon! That is 13.1 miles!!!! Wow! I ran with Angel and her friend, Katie. It was quite the experience. We ran in Scottsdale, Arizona at the Run for Ryan House race. The thing we weren't expecting was that it was pretty much uphill for the first 6.5 miles. We ran up and then we had to run back down. The announcer at the beginning said, "Just remember, what goes up, must come down!" Ha ha I thought, then we started:( We hadn't trained for uphill, so we went a little bit slower than we wanted to. Our goal was to stick to about 10 minute miles. We were going a little slower on the way up, so had to really kick it into high gear on the way back down. I have never been so grateful for downhill in my life! :)

Then, at the very end when I was about to pass out, Angel sees the finish line up ahead and says, "OK, let's go!" In my mind I'm thinking, "GO? I'm already going. What is she talking about?" Then Angel and Katie start sprinting. It was all I could do just to keep up with them. I sort of saw Kyle to the side with the camera, but could only focus on the finish line. To look at the picture now pretty much epitomizes the race. There I am, huffing and puffing and sweating to death only focused on the finish line, and there's Angel, laughing and smiling at the camera! Ha:)

Grand Canyon Adventure

2010-03-03T23:10:00.000-08:00

Kyle and I went to the Grand Canyon for our One Year Anniversary trip. Kyle was dead tired after a stressful finals week, so we took our time driving to the Grand Canyon. On our way up, we stopped out Montezuma's Castle, which actually has nothing to do with Montezuma or castles, but was really cool.

Then we stopped in Sedona. GORGEOUS! I could definitely go back there for a vacation. We ate dinner at the Cowboy Club where I got a buffalo burger. They also had cactus fries. We didn't order them, but the waiter got a few for us. Not bad, but not great either:)

We were pleasantly surprised at our hotel. We opted to stay about 7 miles south of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at the Canyon Plaza Resort. It was actually pretty nice and half the price of what we would have paid to stay on the rim.

The first day at the Grand Canyon was pretty amazing. I've seen pictures of the Grand Canyon and always thought it was pretty, but until you are actually there standing on the edge, looking in all directions (including down) and feeling small, I don't think you really get it. It is amazing! HUGE! Beautiful! I took about 300 pictures, but my mom only wanted to see the highlights:) The rest will be on my photography website.

The first day we hiked along the blue/Village Route. We walked a lot and talked. It was really nice. There was about a foot of snow. You couldn't hike down into the canyon unless you had spiked boots and hiking poles. We were fine staying on the rim:) We took the bus to the green route/Kaibab Trail. It wasn't as cool as the Village Route, but we did meet some folks who had hiked into the canyon three days before, spent the night in the canyon, and had just finished hiking out. They were all crying and tired and exhausted. Poor things! We took some pictures for them after the tears dried:) Note to self, do training before hiking into the Grand Canyon:)

Kyle continues to make fun of me, but I've got to say that one of the highlights of our trip was the HOT CHOCOLATE at the El Tovar. We had a REALLY NICE dinner at the El Tovar and I was still a bit chilly. The waiter came out with a cup of whipped cream and chocolate chips, set down the cup and saucer on my plate, held a saucer between me and the cup so nothing would splatter on me, and poured the hot chocolate from a cute little pitcher into the cup. The whipped cream started to rise until I had a beautiful cup of hot chocolate! It was not only beautifully presented, but tasted AMAZING!

The second day we hiked and took the shuttle along the red/Hermits Rest Route. The foot of snow wasn't as well cleared away on that route, but we still had a blast climbing through it. We watched the sunset at Hopi Point, which was my favorite! It was just beautiful. If you ever get the chance to go, I would recommend it! What a great anniversary trip! I love you Kyle! Thanks for all the fun! and for holding my camera bag!

Happy Anniversary! One Year for Kyle and Jessy!

2010-02-21T16:01:00.000-08:00

Yay for us! Kyle and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary! Unfortunately, the actual day was the day before his finals week, but fortunately we celebrated the next week during his spring break. My mom came to visit and hang out with me during finals. It was SOOOOO nice to have her here!

Mom and Lara bought us tickets to the touring broadway "Mary Poppins" musical. It was amazing! Step in Time! Walking on the walls and tap dancing on the ceiling! LOVED IT!

The night of our actual anniversary, Mom and Lara helped me make dinner. Kyle took a long break from studying to have dinner and to eat our cake top. We saved it, froze it, brought it to Arizona from Utah, and kept it in the freezer. I was SO excited to get it out of the freezer. To our surprise, it wasn't too bad:) Thank you Mom and Lara for your help in making our anniversary special!

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Angel and Jesica and I made these cute little cupcakes that look like a box of chocolates. Well, Angel and Jesica were the ones with the idea and they let me tag along so I can take photos of them all:) Kyle liked to eat them and they were really fun!

We went to see the movie "Valentine's Day." I liked it, except for the Ann Hathaway parts.

Then we went to Krispy Kreme, Kyle's favorite donuts. We talked to Kyle's sister, Emily, on the phone. Hi Em!

Then we made fondue and had a fun fondue feast. Happy Valentine's Day! I love you, Kyle!

Merry Christmas 2009!

2009-12-25T17:13:00.000-08:00

We went to Kjerstin and Steve's house in Las Vegas where we met the rest of the Erickson family, well, most of them. We each had a night to fix dinner. I made enchiladas, rice, and cornbread.

My big project for the past month has been making these aprons for Christmas gifts. They are reversable and OH SO CUTE! I really tried to get fabric that I felt matched the personality of the person. It was a big project for a non-sewer, so I think I'm crafted out for a while. :)

I got Kyle an engraved ornament and engraved wedding photo album. He cried. It was so nice. Kyle got me a new vacuum and some of my favorite perfume. Thanks honey!

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving 2009 with Jessy's family. Kyle's first time with the in-laws.

Cassie killed us all at Monopoly.

I got to do some Temple work for my grandmother.

And Kyle got to be better friends with the dog!

We exchanged a few gifts early since we wouldn't be seeing each other for Christmas.

Grandma looks smashing in her new animal print generic snuggie!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

MEXICAN RIVIERA CRUISE!!!! with Gio and Tessa

2009-11-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

We went on an AWESOME cruise to the Mexican Riviera with Tessa and Gio! It was SWEET!!! We love Royal Carribean and had an exciting adventure. We know it was a good cruise because I gained at least 5 pounds! haha! We did some dancing at the Bon Voyage Party.

Ate some amazing food in the coolest dining room with the most awesome chandelier.

We dressed up for formal night and looked GREAT! Look how handsome these guys are!

We went snorkeling and sea kayaking and hung out on some awesome beaches.

Kyle and I went on a zip lining and repelling adventure.

We also celebrated Tessa and Gio's 2 year anniversary and Kyle and my 9 month anniversary.

We went to some amazing shows, went ice skating, rock climbing, and played mini golf.

Thank you Royal Carribean, Tessa, and Gio for an unforgettable trip!

A Visit to Nikki and John

2009-11-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

We went on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Before and after we stayed with our friends Nikki and John. They are soooooo much fun and we are incredibly excited for them to have their first baby!!!!

A Quick Visit from Becca

2009-11-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

My friend, Becca, from Pennsylvania came by for a quick visit. She had a reunion with some buds from college that live in Arizona. They just live on the other side of Arizona, so we didn't get too much time together. We met for dinner at a mexican place in Tempe. It was soooo good to see her!

Halloween with Kjerstin and Steve

2009-10-31T22:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from the Erickson's...or should I say Batman and Batwoman!

Kyle's sister, Kjerstin, and her husband, Steve, came to visit us for the weekend. They dressed up as an 80's couple. LOVE the mullet Steve! And I still can't get over all of the neon scrunchies! What you can't see is the fake tatoos we drew on Steve's arms. Let's take a closer look.

We went to a fun party at Kyle's school and then a fun party at a friend's house on Friday. Saturday we went to a rock park were they had lots of petroglyphs. Pretty darn cool! Then we went to downtown Phoenix to see the Sun's Stadium and the baseball stadium.

Thanks for a fun weekend, Kjerstin and Steve E.!

White Coat Ceremony

2009-10-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

YAY for KYLE!!! Kyle had his White Coat Ceremony Friday, October 9th. The speakers were really good. One talked about why we give these students their white coat now, in the first few months of school rather than waiting until they're done. One reason is that people will already start treating them like they're doctors. Another reason is so they can have this coat in the closet and, when times get tough and they feel stressed out, they can pull the coat out of the closet and remember what the end goal is. She also said that there really isn't ever a good time. The next 4-12 years will be packed full of knowledge, tests, studying, rotations, and more tests. The faculty want the students to know how they see them, in white coats.

I was INCREDIBLY impressed at how quickly the ceremony went. They read off and coated about 800 students in an hour and a half. Impressive! They did a round robin type of thing and went around the auditorium calling one dental student, one Osteopath, one pharmacy etc.

We went to Chili's for dinner (Kyle's choice) afterwards with Aunt Lara and two other couples whose husbands are in the same program as Kyle. It was really fun! We enjoyed to two for $20 meal deal, especially the dessert part:)

Cupcakes

2009-10-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

So, Jesica and I decided to make these Martha Stewart cupcakes. They looked really cool in the picture and I needed Jesica's help because she has the cake decorating tools... or at least that's all I thought I needed her help for. Boy was I way off! We looked at the recipe for a long time. I thought it was cupcake on the bottom and a cool egg white top, but it turned out that the egg white stuff was the whole cupcake. We used six egg whites and added one and three quarters cup of sugar ONE TABLESPOON at a time beating TWO MINUTES in between. It was a good thing she was there to help! We traded off beating the eggs and adding sugar for over FORTY minutes! Then we spent a lot of time getting them in the cupcake tins. Then we had to cook them for THREE HOURS! Holy Cow!! I did enjoy the finished product. You take the tops off, put whipped cream and raspberry filling in the middle, then put the top back on. They looked pretty great and were a big hit at Kyle's study group.

Fun at the Pool!

2009-08-28T14:52:00.001-07:00

Don't you love our amazing apartment pool! It has a beach, waterfalls, and a cabana with two flatscreen TV's. We LOVE it!

First of all, I should tell you that Kyle and I met April and Vicente at Sweet Tomatoes restaurant a few weeks ago. They sat at the booth next to us. They whole time I kept saying to Kyle, "I think they're LDS." Meanwhile at their table, April kept telling Vicente the same thing. We finally connected the dots and figured out that they just moved here from Utah and BYU just like us! Yay! We found friends! They have twins, one boy and one girl. We've had a lot of fun with them in the pool!

We had a Mommy and Me group pool day, and since I don't have kids, I called April and asked if I could borrow one of hers. :) So, here are some pictures of us at the pool.

Chris and Kyle were friends at BYU, and now Chris and Kyle are study buddies at Medical School. Chris's wife, Jessica, and I are now good friends. We hang out while our husbands study for hours on end:) She has an adorable little girl.

Kyle's First Day of Medical School

2009-08-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

I took Kyle out for breakfast at the Black Bear Diner before his first day of Medical School.

Here he is getting ready to walk into his first lecture! YAY! We finally made it!

Trip to California

2009-07-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

We went on an awesome vacation to visit our friends Nikki and John in the LA area. We saw some sweet waves, hung out at the beach, ate some great pizza, played video games, played with their dog, and had a really great time!

We LOVE having fun with you guys!

We also spent a two days at Universal Studios.

Welcome to Arizona

2009-07-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Well, my Dad decided he was going to take his "mid-life crisis tour," as we've loving started referring to it. He road his motorcycle from Davis, California to Orem, Utah where he helped us pack up our stuff onto the big moving truck. He drove the moving truck towing Kyle's car while Kyle and I switched off driving my car and we headed for Vegas.

We stayed at Kyle's sister, Kjerstin's, house for a night, then went the rest of the way to Glendale, Arizona. We got into our apartment and got everything unloaded in a few hours with the help of my aunt and uncle and our new friend Jeremy. We almost lost the couch off the second floor stairs, but we managed to get everything in ok. PHEW! My poor Dad was so worn out after it that he threw up in a bush in the Home Depot parking lot. Kyle had a massive headache for the night. We did luck out that there was a breeze. It could have been much worse.

My Dad then road his motorcycle to the Grand Canyon for a night, then went to Bryce Canyon and then headed back home. The first thing he did when he got home was to jump in the pool. THANKS DAD! You're the best!

Our new apartment complex is awesome! They have a sand beach on one end of the pool and is snakes around with some waterfalls. Oh, and there are two flat screen TVs in the cabana. We have a decent size gym which will save us some money. Oh, and we knew we got into a ritzy place when we noticed that the sand for the cigarette butts is stamped every morning with the complex logo. Wow!

Getting ready to move

2009-07-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Kyle and I are packing up the house and getting ready to move to Arizona where Kyle will start his big adventure of becoming a doctor. I am really excited for him to finally get started on his big dream. We ran out of boxes and had to go get more. We've got way too much stuff, but somehow can't seem to get rid of much.

I'm going to try out this blog thing and see how I like it.