Merry Christmas!

My New Pride and Joy!

Rencher Family Cabin

Island Park, Idaho

Hanging out with Grandpa Spainhower on Christmas Eve

Baby Reagan (the best baby ever)!

It has been a fabulous Christmas! Mostly it has been wonderful being with family and friends. They are so good to us! Our parents especially are amazing. Sometimes Iowa seems so far away and it just feels good to be back in Utah and Idaho.

We made it to Utah around 5:00 am on Saturday morning after driving through the night. We rode with Matt and Erin (friends we know from Iowa) and luckily the roads were great most of the way. Thanks to Matt and Erin for letting us catch a ride with them! Now we just hope we can make it back to Iowa safely on the 2nd of January.

We spent the actual holidays with my family. It was one family party after another and it was wonderful. Dad and Cathy have been working on finishing their basement and they were working until 10:00 pm the night before we got there so that we would have a place to sleep. They also let us take over their car the whole trip. Good thing they love us! Thanks Dad and Cathy for being so wonderful! The highlight of the whole adventure is we got to talk to my little brother Alan who is in Mexico on a mission right now. He sounds just like a little Mexican and happy as can be! Next Christmas he will be home...Yeah!

Nate worked on his Daddy skills over the holidays. He held baby Reagan all night long and wouldn't give her up. That is until she spit up on him. I was even more amazed when he picked up my cousin's 2 month old baby (Anya) from her baby carrier. He wouldn't share her either. This is kind of out of character for him. I guess he is realizing that ready or not baby Rencher is coming and he better be prepared!

Now I need to tell you just how good my husband and his parents are to me...I told Nate about 1-2 months ago that I really wanted to get a little piano keyboard so that I could keep practicing the piano. I have a real piano back home but it is too heavy to keep hauling around from apartment to apartment and state to state. So I took Nate to Best Buy one day to show him what I wanted, just a simple keyboard (not even a full sized one). Apparently Nate had bigger and better plans (and with the help of his parents he was able to pull them off) because on Christmas morning I woke up to a digital mini grand piano! At first I didn't know if I should believe it. I almost started crying I was so excited. This whole time Nate had me thinking we needed room in our car to bring back a baby crib not a piano. I was totally surprised! Somehow I always seem to get the better end of the deal because all Nate got was a football and a few shirts. He gave up his Christmas presents from his parents so that I could get my huge present.

We will be driving our new car back to Iowa which is very exciting!!! We picked up our new car on Christmas night in Pocatello. My parents drove us all the way up there to get it which made for a 4 hour+ round trip for them. Again, good thing they love us! We hadn't seen the car yet (Nate's brother Jarem bought it for us at the auction) so we had no idea what we had purchased. Luckily we love it. It is a Pontiac Grand Prix GT (I have to add the GT part for Nate even though I have no idea what it means). I am very happy to finally have two cars and even more excited to have at least one car that shouldn't be breaking down on us so often. No offense to the Green Ford Contour:).

We are now up at the Rencher Family Cabin in Island Park, Idaho enjoying a little R&R. We will be here to celebrate the New Year. And yes we have much to celebrate because we are so blessed!

Winter Ice Storm...

For my fellow friends of Iowa this isn't going to be the most exciting entry considering you were here to experience it for yourselves, but I wanted to share the excitement of my first ice storm with the rest of you.

Actually I think this was the second one, but I don't remember for sure. It seems we get extreme weather here all the time.

Nate didn't even try to go to school this day and luckily for him most of his classes were cancelled. They even closed down the whole school by 11:00 am. It ended up being quite a fun day because we just hung out at home together. I don't think we even attempted to go outside until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Once we decided to venture outside it took us around 20-30 minutes just to get into our car. It was totally iced over. The ice on the windshield was so thick you couldn't even scrape at it.

Luckily we didn't get it as bad as some of the other states around us. We never lost power and were only kept inside for a short time.

The aftermath of it was actually very pretty. All of the trees looked like they were made of crystal and at night they would shimmer in the light.

After the extreme humidity when we first moved out here in August and now these crazy ice storms I don't see myself wanting to live in Iowa for the rest of our lives, but we are having fun for the time being.

More Pics...

The Pictures are kind of small but if you double click on them you can make them bigger.

Time to Catch Up...

This is the first time I have been able to sit down at a computer to work on our blog. Now that I don't have a regular job I don't have access to the internet very often. So this may be a long one as we have had some fun over the last few weeks...

Lets first talk about our wonderful 1999 green Ford Contour. What a gem it is:). It has been having some issues lately. Two days before Thanksgiving Nate and I were driving back from his school when the car just went dead (in the middle of a busy street). Luckily it started back up and we were able to get it home. We had someone jump us when we got home so that Nate could drive to Wal-mart to get a new battery. Unfortunately he only made it about half way. So he started running the rest of the way (about 2 miles) to Wal-mart. We must remember that the weather that night was so incredibly cold! The jog to Wal-mart wasn't the hard part...it was the jog back with the 50lb. battery that was hard! So where was I during all of this madness? I had to teach a group exercise class at the gym (which is about 10 miles from our house) in an hour so I was frantically searching for a ride or a substitute teacher. I ended up having to call my boss and she came and picked me up. Kind of embarressing.

Now the real drama begins...

Turns out it wasn't just a bad battery, but instead a bad alternater. We called around to find out how much it was going to cost us to have someone replace the alternater and when we found out it was going to be around $700 (I don't even know if the car is worth $700) we started trying to figure out how possible it would be for Nate to replace it himself. So we got a hold of an alternater the next day and Nate and one of his good buddies (Matt) started disecting our car. What a beautiful sight it was when the snow started falling, and falling and falling... It was honestly the biggest blizzard ever. And no we didn't have a car port or garage to work in so Nate and Matt were out in the blizzard. Again where was I during all the drama...Inside trying not to cry. Nate and I were supposed to be driving our car to Washington D.C. to visit Brian and Lindsay for Thanksgiving. The plan was to leave at 8 am so that we could get to D.C. before midnight. It was now almost noon and there was little hope of our car getting fixed. Turns out changing the alternater was a bigger job than Nate thought it would be.

Anyway...the story is getting long so I will sum it all up in a few words. We ended up leaving our dissasembled car in the parking lot, rented a car and left our worries behind. We would face the stress when we got home. We finally took off for D.C. around 4:00 pm which meant that we arrived at Brian and Lindsay's around 7:00 am the next day. Poor Nate had to do 75% of the driving because I am a sissy when it comes to driving through the night. Poor guy! As I replay this story in my mind I am being reminded of just how amazing my husband is, and just was a sissy I am!

Once we made it to D.C. we had a blast. It was sooooooo good to see Brian, Lindsay and the kids. Plus Lindsay and one of her girlfriends made the best Thanksgiving dinner ever! As part of the festivities we had to make these little turkeys and write what we were thankful for on the feathers. At the top of our list...Family, Baby Rencher and our Rental Car!

P.S. we did finally get our car fixed but we ended up having to tow it to the shop (Thanks to Logan and Ashley for helping us do that).

Searching for Sympathy...

I am pretty sure that all women who have experienced the so called "morning sickness" of pregnancy would agree that the term is actually a mockery. A more accurate term would be 24/7 sickness. I know I shouldn't complain because I haven't experienced the joys of throwing up, but there have been close calls. I was feeling much better, but for the last three days that dreadful feeling has returned. I just want to crawl under a blanket and sleep for hours. But I am not even sure that would work because I have yet to sleep through the night without getting up 2 or 3 times to go to the bathroom. Poor Nate gets woken up everytime. I can only imagine how bad it is going to be once I get bigger.



Also thanks to hormones...

I have always been pretty good at crying, but over the last few weeks the flood gates have been opened. It is to the point where I will cry at a cheesy commercial. What gets me the most these days is "The Biggest Loser". When the kicked off contestant goes home and they talk about how much weight they have lost and how much progress they have made I turn into a fountain of tears. I guess I just feel so proud of their success:). Extreme Makeover Home Edition usually tugs at those heart strings as well. Last night when I was having a particularly hard night I had to cancel an aerobics class I was supposed to team teach. I called the other instructor to let her know I wouldn't be there and after getting off the phone I just sat there and cried. I was so frustrated that my body wasn't letting me do the things I wanted to do. Nate is good to me and just let me snuggle with him until I fell asleep. Luckily today isn't such a dramatic day and everything is going to be okay:)

I am still thrilled to be pregnant and know this will all be worth it. My dad thinks I am having a girl and has already started throwing out some names. For the most part his suggestions are pretty good, but of course he likes to throw out such ideas as Monkey. For those of you who know my dad that shouldn't come as a suprise to you.





Now time for me to brag... Nate got a 98% on his Cell Biology test this week!!! He works so hard to get good grades and the hard work is definitely paying off. He consistently pulls A's on his tests. I am very impressed with his dedication. He is no longer okay with anything less than 94% on any tests. He has at least 1 or 2 tests a week so this isn't an easy task. I am a very proud wife!

3 jobs in 3 months...

Not bad if you ask me:). I am not necessarily proud of my track record but each job keeps getting better and better so I am okay with it. I started working as a personal trainer at Aspen Athletic. I knew I didn't want to do it, but for some reason I got pressured into it (the fact I was desparate for a job didn't help). That job sucked! It is pretty much a sales job, and I am the world's worst sales person ever. There were days where I would cry the whole way home after a long day of nothing. A little over a month ago I was hired on with Allied/Nationwide insurance doing corporate wellness. Similar to what I was doing back at American Express. I took a pay cut, but thought it would be better than working the PT job and hating my life everyday. About a week ago I received an offer from the group fitness director at Aspen to be her assistant, with the plan to take over her job part-time in February. I will also be teaching a bunch of different group exercise classes (BodyJam, BodyPump, Spinning, TurboKick, Step and my personal favorite SilverSneakers). Pretty much I will work 1/2 as much and make more money than I am currently making. I decided I would be crazy to not take the job. I put in my two weeks today at Allied (was scared out of my mind, and a little embarressed). I will also be doing some in-home personal training (which I love!). I think it is going to be perfect. Hopefully I can stick this one out! The more I quit the easier it gets, plus I get to celebrate everytime I get a new and better job:).

It is a good thing my wonderful husband is putting in the hard work to be a doctor. If it were up to me to support the family we would be doomed. I will gladly accept my new and upcoming role as mom! I hope I will be much more successful at that job.

Much Love!

Murder Mystery Dinner Party...

Some friends of ours put together a super fun murder mystery party last weekend. Everyone totally dressed and played their parts. Nate was supposed to be a comedy writer that dressed avant-garde. We had to google avant-garde to figure out what it even meant. It still didn't make a lot of sense so Nate just dressed in whatever cool stuff he could find at the Salvation Army. I was told to dress as a talk show host that was definitely not skinny. I too found my sweet pink suit coat at the Salvation Army. Nate's cousin (Logan) is the one dressed as a gay guy. Weirdness must run in the Rencher family. I fear our children have no hope of being normal:)

The highlight of the night was the fabulous dinner. Everyone that came pitched in and it turned out delicious. I was in charge of making homemade rolls because I finally found a bread recipe that I can't screw up...or at least I thought. I woke up at 6:00am to make the dough because I had to go to a group exercise training all day long and wouldn't have time to make them later. I left Nate with the instructions on how to finish up for me. I called Nate mid-way through the day to find out if the rolls turned out. His response, "They look more like biscuits than rolls". They still tasted fine so we took them to the party anyway. I don't think anyone really cared about the rolls because we had delicious chocolate crepes for dessert. It is times like this that I use the "I am eating for two excuse", and without hesitation I ate it all!

The friends we have made out here are wonderful and I feel very blessed! Nate has a lot of good friends from school and I have found a great group of girls to hang out with when the boys are studying late. We really are living the good life.

Welcome to Iowa!

Just thought you might like to know what we have been up to since we have been gone...

You haven't experienced Iowa until you have experienced to Iowa state fair. We were informed prior to moving out here that we were going to make it in time for the Iowa state fair, and that we had to go to it. Especially to see the cow made out of butter. So despite the unbelievably hot, humid, sticky weather we made the trek. The deep fried twinkies were DELICIOUS! Next year I want to try the deep fried Snickers and Ding Dong. It really was worth the trip, and I have posted a few pics so that you too can experience true Iowa fun:).

Happy Halloween!

Halloween itself was a rather lame day. Nate had a big test on Thursday he had to cram for so Wednesday night at about 10:00 p.m. I think we both finally realized it was Halloween. I didn't even buy any Halloween candy which is quite a sham. We did get a chance to celebrate prior to Halloween though so we weren't complete losers. We had a few friends over to our little apartment for a pumpkin carving party. It is always fun to tell people around here what my plans are for the weekend. The fact that we were carving pumpkins without children, and it had nothing to do with alcohol, seemed to be a little weird to most. I tried my best to be a good hostess. I made a yummy chip dip (which was a hit), mummy cupcakes (unfortunately not everyone could tell what they were supposed to be), and chocolate fondue (which was a complete flop). We bought a fondue set at a garage sale, and apparently there was a reason the previous owners were trying to get rid of it. All in all we had fun.

A little about our pumpkins...we bought them at a place called Pumpkin World. We were surrounded by pumpkins, and Nate thought he had died and gone to heaven. The place had little red wagons to put your pumpkins in as you shopped around, which Nate loved. I wish I had a picture of his happy little face. We wanted to buy one of the huge pumpkins that I could barely pick up until we realized it would cost around $15.00-20.00 so we opted for the smaller sizes and bought one for me, Nate, and the baby.

We did get to go to a Murder Mystery Dinner a few days after Halloween but I don't have the pics transferred to my computer yet so the details will have to wait for another day.

Welcome to our blog...

I guess it is about time for us to join the world of blogging. I know there are many of you out there that just couldn't wait for this day:)! I am not sure if we have anything worth sharing, except for the fact that we now have a baby on the way. I think most of you know that by now considering I wasn't very good at keeping it a secret. And be sure that you will probably stay up to date throughout the pregnancy! We hope that through the blog we can stay somewhat connected to all those we love and miss wherever you may be.



Pictures to come soon...