February Fun!

February has been a pretty exciting month! We found out that Jason was offered the internship this summer in Denver, CO with Towers Watson. After a few more interviews with other companies and a lot of prayer, he officially accepted the offer and starts the beginning of May. We are still working out the details. Since Jason is usually in survival mode with school, he doesn't think about it that much yet. I try not to think about it either because I don't like thinking about him being gone. :)

Another piece of news that not many people know is that we're expecting a baby August 17th! Fortunately, Towers Watson allowed Jason to shorten the original time of the internship so he could come home a week before the baby is due. We're both excited for this news, although the last few months have been difficult since we've lost pregnancies in the past. It's hard not to worry or be anxious even now that I'm into the second trimester. We're grateful for the many prayers for us from family and friends. Especially sweet are the prayers that my little nieces and nephews offer for me and the baby. Their faith is amazing and their persistence appreciated!

Speaking of babies, my sister Kristilyn gave birth to her 5th child at the end of February. They named him John Alfred Eliason. He came a week early. The crazy thing about it is that their family moved 3 days after he was born. I was more than happy to hold the baby while Jason helped moved the boxes and furniture. :)

We celebrated Jason's birthday by going out to dinner and to a BYU basketball game. We also went to a men's volleyball game a couple weeks later. We got to sit on the front row for both of them. It's amazing how much more exciting the games can be the closer you are to the action.

This month we also decided to try out a month pass at Orem Fitness Center. We have really enjoyed it and will probably do it another month until the weather warms up a little more. One fun sport that we've enjoyed is Pickleball. It's kind of like tennis on a smaller court with a paddle that is twice as big as a Ping Pong paddle and a wiffle ball. I like it because the wiffle ball can't go as fast as a tennis ball or racquetball, so it's easier to get pretty good at it in a short time. We've played doubles with other couples a few times and it's a lot of fun.

A few other highlights from the month include family dinners with both sides of the family, an eagle scout Valentine's Day fundraiser dinner, as well as a Ward potluck dinner. Jason has also been playing in weekly ward basketball games, which he really enjoys. We attended a BYU Music Dance Theater (MDT) performance of various broadway songs, as well as a BYU ballroom dance performance in Salt Lake with Kristilyn while my parents were in Idaho helping out my sister Katrina. So, as you can see, it's been a busy month!

One other big event for February was the combined YW/YM activity that I was in charge of. The theme for the month was the Plan of Salvation so we organized a trip to a local Family History Training Center and learned how to index names. The activity was well attended, and even though 15 of the youth already knew how to index, more than half of them had never done a batch on their own. Most people had their own computers and there were lots of missionaries nearby to help answer questions. It turned out to be a really fun night.

These energizer bunny flowers lasted over three weeks. Jason bought them for my birthday and they lasted almost a week past Valentine's Day!

Birthday dinner with cake and ice cream at Jeff and Sally's house. Jeff and Sally couldn't make it to the party though since they were vacationing in Tahiti.

Jason's Birthday

BYU basketball game against San Francisco