Swensons

Goodbye Kirksville!!!

2010-06-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

It is our last Saturday in Kirksville, and it is so bittersweet!! I am so sad to leave, but excited to move on the next phase of our lives. Tomorrow is Bryce's 29th birthday so we just had to have a bbq to celebrate, and of course watch the USA play in the World Cup. It was so much fun!! We have made great friends while we have been here, they have done so much for us! I dont know how we would have made it through living in Kirksville without them. The Triplett's are wonderful people and we will miss them so much.
I made a brownie/cookie dough treat for desert and put some candles in it so we could sing to him. Lets just say I had to MAKE him smile in this picture...Anyway other than that we are just busy packing/cleaning. Bryce has been studying his brains out getting ready for to take the Comlex and USMLE. He took one on Friday and just has one left on Wednesday. I could not be more proud of him. I think that he is amazing!!
My family will be here on Wednesday for a little Kansas City/ St. Louis trip before we move, and than that's it we are out of here!!
We have truly loved living in Kirksville, I truly believe that we were supposed to come here. BUT we could not be more excited to be around family for a few years!
Utah ready or not here we come!!!

I Never Thought

2010-01-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

So today was the day that I had to tell my boss and friend Tammy that my last day of working at The Bank of Kirksville would be April 29th. I never thought that this would make me seriously think of so many things. With all of the excitement coming up in our life I have just been reflecting on the portion of our lives here in Kirksville.
I never thought that I would marry someone like Bryce, he is truly the best thing that ever happened to me. I never thought that getting sealed in the temple for time and all eternity would bring so much comfort to me at times when I need it the most. I never thought that I would move across the country for my husband to go to medical school. I never thought it was possible to miss family and home, but be so content to stay here. I never thought that I would love living in Kirksville. I never thought that I would have as good of friends that I do here. I never thought that my boss could be one of my best friends, but she truly is!!! I don't know what I would have done without her. I never thought that Tammy and her husband John would be such a blessing in our lives.
I never thought that my testimony would grow so much by teaching 12 and 13 year olds in sunday school. I never thought that I would learn so much about myself while living in Kirksville. I never thought that I would be so excited to move home, but so sad to leave at the same time. I never thought someone could excell at medical school the way Bryce does. I never thought that I would ever be in this situation at all. But I would not trade it for anything in the world!!
Bryce and I have truly become best friends and are so close, I honestly think that moving here was the best decision that we have ever made. I am so glad that he picked me as the lucky one to take this journey with him. I never thought that we would be able to experience some of the wonderful things that the midwest has to offer.
April 29th is serioulsy coming so close, it will be here before I know it, and than we will be moving on to the next phase of our lives. I also know that it is what is best for us, but I truly know that we were ment to come to Kirksville. I have learned so much while I have been here.
I never thought that turning in my quitting day would bring so much thought, but it has. Sorry this is such a random post, but I just had to write all this thought down or else I would never remember it. So for those few people who read our blog I am sorry for the mess of thoughts.

Alive

2009-12-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Yes we are alive and well, I just have not posted anything for quite sometime. Since my sister has been on my case about updating I guess I will just write what we have been up to lately.
Halloween was so much fun, we went to our ward trunk-or-treat with some friends and than carved pumpkins later that evening. Once again Bryces was the bomb!! He just has so much patience so carve out very small details to make them look awesome.
Thanksgiving was AWESOME!!! My family was so nice and spent a long long car ride to come all the way to Missouri to spend the weekend with us. We had an awesome meal cooked by my mom (Tiff and I helped a little), than the boys cleaned up. We went to A Christmas Carol, spent Saturday in Hannibal, played ALOT of Wii, and just had some serious bonding time in our small little house. I am truly so grateful for family. Being away from both of our families we look forward to every time that we can see them. I wish I had some pics of our weekend-we did take some, but Bryce and I currently don't have a camera so we don't have any-we played at the park after we ate dinner on Thanksgiving and Bryce and I both said that goofing around there was the best thing that we did!!
Bryce and I also became an uncle and aunt!! Bryces brother and sister-in-law had a baby girl about three weeks ago. She is seriously so so cute, Bryce has already been able to see her because of his dentist appointments, but I cant wait to see her at Christmas. We are so happy for them and hope that everything is going well.
Speaking of Christmas, in just two weeks we get to go home for Christmas and are so excited!! This is my first year to spend Christmas with the Swenson's and I cant wait. But most of all we are just excited to see all the family.
Oh and also, we found out a few weeks ago that we get to move to Provo in June for two years. We are so excited for that as well.
Other than that life is pretty much just the same old stuff, work and school. Bryce is doing so well and is loving every minute of school. He just soaks all the information in and cant wait to actually apply it in a work setting.
I wish I had some pics for everyone, but that will just have to wait until we can decide on what kind of a camera to purchase.
Sorry for the long post, but there you go Tiffany I updated my blog!!

Jewelry Box

2009-09-29T19:49:00.001-07:00

Along with the wonderful surprise of my sister coming for my birthday, Bryce got me a jewelry box. I have been in such dire need for one and have never been able to find one. Just about every morning I have to ask Bryce to untangle the jewelry that I wanted to wear because it was just a huge mess. It was an extra surprise and I absolutely love it. It looks so cute with the bed set. I finally got all my jewelry put into it, and the best part is that my necklaces can hang in the back so that I can easily get one out without it being in a big tangled mess.
Sorry about the blurry photo, our camera was dropped in water a few times so its not in the best condition, but its better than nothing.
Thanks Bryce for my wonderful birthday surprises, I love them!!!

Little Piece of Heaven

2009-09-29T19:23:00.001-07:00

So in a little town about 30 minutes from Kirksville is a restaurant called The Pear Tree. Its pretty much the most amazing place that we have ever eaten at. Its in a very small town and the building is nothing special, but inside the atmosphere and food is out of this world!! They serve the usual steaks, chicken, and seafood. We have only been there twice (thats all a student salary will allow), but wish we could go at least once a month. Its wonderful, seriously the best steak that either Bryce or I have ever had. They make their own everything croutons, salad dressing, batter for their wonderful onion rings, and their mashed potatoes are to die for. Anyway, the reason for this post is because I have recently learned that a grocery store in Kirksville is now selling the croutons and salad dressing. Ah, its music to my ears. I seriously find every excuse to eat salad now. I just love it.
When we move I am seriously going to stock up on this stuff. I just wish that everyone that I know could try that restaurant.

Birthday Surprise

2009-09-21T16:33:00.000-07:00

So for my 23rd birthday my wonderful husband and sister gave me the best present ever.....Tiffany came to Missouri!!!! I was so shocked when she told me that I had better leave my house to go get her because she would be waiting in Kansas City for me. ( It takes 3 hours for us to drive to the airport, and it takes 3 hours for the flight to get there from Salt Lake) I could not believe it, I had been wanting her to come forever.
We had lots of fun, we hung out and Bryce grilled some awesome dinner for us. We spent the day shopping in Columbia on Saturday and spent way to much money. Tiff was culverized and loved it!! She even won a free scoop of ice cream because she found a fry that was longer than 5 inches.
We shopped till we dropped literally, we saw good movies, and on Sunday we stopped at Liberty Jail on the way to the airport.
I would post pics but on the way home Bryce and I discovered that we had misplaced our camera somewhere and still have not been able to find it, yes we even drove back to the jail and no one turned it in. So i guess there will be no pics for a long while.
I just wanted to tell my sister and Bryce how much I love them, and how much fun I had this weekend. It was the best present ever. Her visit was to short, but I loved every minute of it.
Thanks to the both of them for making my 23rd birthday awesome.

I know I have not posted in forever, and I am seriously going to try an update our blog more often. Hopefully one of our cameras will show up so that we can take some pics of our outings, but until than I will try and keep posting about whats going on in Missouri.

UTAH!!!

2009-06-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

We just got back from Utah a few days ago, and it was more than I could have asked for. We had so much fun just hanging with my family. We did a little of everything, Lagoon, the zoo, boating/fishing, the new aquarium in Sandy, and Seven Peaks. We definitely soaked up the sun, Bryce got really sunburned, but its healing now so it was worth it.
We also got to spend one night with the Swensons and cant wait for them to come to Missouri next weekend.
When we went boating/fishing the only person that caught a fish was Bracken, it was so cute. Bryce just showed him how to cast once and he did it all by himself twice more and than just randomly he caught one. It was funny because all the die hard fisherman didnt catch anything all day, but little Bracken tries a few times and gets one.
We also accomplished something else that day, we got my 72 year old grandma who cant swim and is deathly afraid of water out on the tube for a ride. She said that she had fun, but some of the time her face told a different story. We were so proud of her to get out there and try something new. Nobody thought that she would actually do it, but she did and I will always remember that.
Also I just have to say that I am so proud of Bracken for being as brave as he is. At seven peaks and Lagoon there was nothing that he didn't do. I couldn't believe it. Of course he had to do everything with Bryce, but it was like with Bryce sitting by him there was nothing he couldn't do.
We left Maggie with one of my friends so it was like a little vacation for all of us. It is good to be home though, we missed her.
We just want to say thanks to my family for having us out there. It was so good to see them and spend time with them. We really do love and miss you so so much. I hope that we can all meet in Chicago in October so that we can see each other again. Until the next time family. We love you!!
We only took a few pictures so I will upload those later.

June 13th!!

2009-06-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

We have been so crazy busy lately that I have had no time to update our blog!! In the last few weeks we have moved to a new wonderful house. We absolutely love where we are, and Bryce did such a wonderful job moving us. We had to be out the Saturday after his finals were over, so Friday after he took his last test he went and got a u haul and loaded all of our stuff in it and moved us. I couldn't help because I had to work, and by the time that I got off everything was out of our old house and all I had to do was clean it. So we have moved, finished finals, tried to plan our summer trips, work, Bryce got a root canal, you know just life.
But the real reason I wanted to blog today is because it is Bryce's 28th birthday, and to let everyone know why I am so lucky everyday to have him by my side.
Okay so here are 28 reasons that I love Bryce
-He has a brown cinnamon and sugar pop tart and a can of Dr. pepper every morning for breakfast
-He lets me take up most of the bed at night
-He always remembers that we need to say prayers at night
-He teaches every lesson in our sunday school class- and does an excellent job
-Every time he goes to a gas station or store he searches for and sparkle cherry laffy taffy for me
-He spoils Maggie
-He lets Maggie fall asleep on his stomach most every night
-He is so understanding of my feelings, and lets me be an emotional girl without getting upset
-He is extremely smart, I would get in trouble if I posted his grades, but believe me he is doing REALLY well in medical school
-His testimony is amazing, he has helped strengthen mine in so many ways
-Of course he honors his priesthood
-He loves his family
-Usually everyday at five is quitting time for both of us, instead of staying at school and studying all night long he comes home and hangs out with Maggie and me
-Like I said before he moved almost everything we own by himself while being sick, the day of his last final
-For our Sunday naps he lets me lay on the couch so that I can sleep
-He is truly my best fried
-He loves the Red Sox
-He is the most selfless person I know, he would do anything for anyone
-He can fix ANYTHING!!!
-I love all his freckles
-He will go shopping with me and at least pretend that he is having a fun time
-He tells me I am beautiful first thing in the morning
-He will love me unconditionally
-He exceeds all my expectations
-The last year has been the best year of my life
-I absolutely love that Bracken thinks the world of Bryce
-I love Bryce because I know that we will be together forever
It was hard to stop at 28, but I truly do love Bryce and I am so happy that we are together. Happy Birthday babe I love you!!!

Christmas in April!!

2009-04-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

For Christmas the Swensons gave us each gift cards, and it has taken us this long to decide how to spend them. Bryce finally decided that he wanted a Wii and Mario Cart game to go along with it. I chose to get a new comforter that we desperatly need for our bed, the one that I wanted was at Bed Bath & Beyond and becuase we live in Kirksville I have not been able to get it. So this past weekend we went to Quincy Illinois with Justin and Emily, and stopped at TJ MAXX!!!! I love that store, I found a comforter that I absolutely love for so much less than anything at Bed Bath & Beyond. Bryce was also excited because it was so much cheaper he had more money to spend on getting stuff for his Wii. I have to admit that I was hesitant about getting a Wii becuase its so much money, but I do love having it, we played it all day yesterday.

P.S. one of our scores at bowling was Cassi:214 Bryce:174.... I ROCK!!!!

Thanks Nola and Reed, we love our presents!!!
Lets just hope that Bryce can put Mario Cart away long enough to study his microbiology thats sitting right in front of him in this picture!!!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Bryce and I decorated Easter eggs to put into our baskets. We each picked out surprises for our baskets and hid them last night so we had to find them this morning. It was so fun to start this tradition together. We miss our families, but we tried to make the best of being away.

Disaster

2009-03-30T19:27:00.002-07:00

As we came home from work and shcool today, Maggie just was not her usual excited to see us self. I knew something must be wrong. All to soon we knew what it was, she had gotten into a book that was on the bottom shelf of our entertainment stand and completely ripped it to shreds. This is what we saw
So as punishment she got yelled at and put into her carrier, as usual. Than we left for a little while to have dinner at Justin and Emily's house, and came back to Maggie greeting us at the door. Needless to say we were confused, so in an effort to figure out why she was free from her crate, Bryce picked it up and found this

It goes without being said that Maggie has been horrible today, its a good thing that she is cute because she definitely tests our patience. We love her, but she needs to learn her lesson and fast!!

Update Plus A Little Extra

2009-03-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would let everyone know how Bryce is doing. He is completely back to normal, he went to the doctor last Thursday and got the tape taken off of his scars. The surgeon said that he looked great and he is clear to do whatever he wants. So tomorrow is the day to start working out again. Sorry to anyone who thought the picture of his belly was disgusting, I just had to put it on our blog.

Anyway, on St. Patrick's day I thought it would be fun to make an all green dinner. When I told Bryce about my idea he was not that thrilled, because he doesn't like to eat vegetables, but I assured him I would try hard to make something without a lot of veggies. This is how it turned out.

So here is the list of what we had:
-green kool-aid
-garden salad, with peas
-green jello
-green apples
-green macaroni and cheese (homemade)
-lime sherbet
-and sugar cookies with green frosting
It was alot of fun, and I have to tell my mom thanks for making every holiday so much fun while I was growing up, it definately was my inspiration. Its not anything huge, but just a little extra effort makes so many memories. I am so excited about making silly memories with Bryce. He was so good about going along with my crazy idea, thanks babe.

Crazy Crazy Times

2009-03-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Once again we know its been forever, but things have been a little crazy. Its funny how life can change in just one little moment of time.

So Saturday night we had eaten dinner and put a movie in, a typical night in our exciting lives, and Bryces stomach was not feeling well. Not giving it much thought he took some medicine and tried to go to sleep. After hours of tossing and turning he started to come to the conclusion that it was APPENDICITIS!!! So at 1 in the morning I finally convinced him that we needed to go to the ER!! Just one push on his stomach and a CT scan, showed that his self diagnosis was not only right, but his appendix was twice the size of what it normally should be. So they admitted him to the hospital and we would wait for the surgeon to come back from his long night. The next day at 8:30 he went in for surgery.

At that moment one of the guys in our ward called me to ask if our house was flooding, because it had been raining for like 2 days straight. When I told him that we were at the hospital he offered to go check on our house and to get all of our furniture up. Between him and our good friends Justin and Emily we got the house and Maggie taken care of.

Just to add to the list, Bryce had finals week starting the day after surgery, obvisouly he would not be able to attend so Justin got a hold of the Dean to ask him to excuse Bryce from the tests. Surgery went well and Bryce recovered great. So after a week of finals he only has two tests to make up next week, but his classes never suffered.

He will never cease to amaze me because not matter what life throws at him he always gives it everything he has and never complains. He even went to school the day he was released and took a test. I am so glad that everything turned out okay. I also have to say thank you to Justin and Emily for coming to help with no hesitations. They definately made the situation easier for us.

We didn't manage to get any pictures of Bryce while he was in the hospital, but here is a picture of his scars

We also want to say thanks to everyone who kept us in their prayers and for all the phone calls. Also thanks family for the awesome care package. Its no nice to know that no matter how far away from our families that we are they will still do all they can to help us.

Maggie

2009-02-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

Today was Maggies first haircut. Bryce didnt have class this afternoon so he took Maggie to the groomer. She looks so funny, cute but funny. Its like she is a totally different dog. Although we had to do some touchups we are still pleased with the way that she looks. I think.

Here are some before and after pics, you can really tell the difference.

P.S. Bryce put this bow in her hair for this picture. He did good!!

My Creative Side

2009-01-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night was another SAA(its a group of medical student wives) project night, and it was making little girl hair bows. So these are the finished products. They were much harder than they look. Or maybe I am just retarded at making them. Probably the latter. They are definitely not perfect but I am a little proud of them!

Missouri, good to be back, sad to be back

2009-01-18T17:27:00.002-08:00

Even though it was sad to come back to Missouri, its nice to be back into our routine of work and school. We were also glad to see our friends Justin and Emily, mostly we were excited for some good food. Justin is seriously the best griller ever. Bryce now calls him the grill master. We literally eat over there like once a week. And because it is so good Bryce has now decided that we need a grill just like his. We haven't yet decided if we are going to get one or not. It would be awesome, but we will see what happens.

We also got to take a trip to Columbia this weekend. Its like an hour and a half away, but its the closest town that has shopping and a variety of places to eat. We went there with Justin and Emily, because the boys dont have school this Monday so they took us there for the day. It was pretty fun, and I am proud to say I purchased the steal of my life, a really cute brown peacoat, it was on sale for like $50 and it was so cute, I was so excited to get it. Than I took it up to the register and it was like and EXTRA 50% off!!! I am so happy, so all in all it was a great day!!

Horrilbe Blogging Skills!!!

2009-01-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

Once again it has been forever since we have posted anything, but better late than never, right. We have done so much since the last blog, we went home, to Utah, and spent the holidays with our families. It was the best time ever, and although I cried the whole plane ride back to Missouri I wouldn't trade that time for anything. We have some pictures of the trip, but I am waiting on some to be sent to me from my mom, so I will wait until I have those to put any up. Well maybe I will add a few of the ones that i have.

Bryce and Bracken with Maggie in her dress that Santa brought her. And yes we all got these matching pj's. The real picture will come later.
While we were in Midway at my families house it snowed like 4 feet, so one day we decided to build a snow cave. Since Bryce was the only one who really knew what he was doing he did most of it, but it was awesome once it was done. Bracken called the other day to tell Bryce that it was melting and that he needed to come fix it. He also volunteered my mom to pay for his plane ticket there. Mom just let us know when he leaves.
We also went to Temple Square. It was really pretty, but oh so cold. It was nice to go back though, we have not been there since we got married in May. It definitely brought back good memories. This is my sister in law Ashlee Swenson, sorry that you cant really see our faces. It was really fun.Bryce and Bracken being silly on the snowmobile. As usual those two were inseperable. Bracken slept in our room every night that we were there. Some nights he even slept inbetween us, or they kicked me out of my spot so that they could have the bed. What can I say that little boy has both of us wrapped around his finger.
On our last day in Utah we attended the Biesinger family Christmas party. It was a day full of playing in the snow. It was alot of fun and it was really good to be able to see my extended family.

2008-12-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

So we know that it has been forever since we have done anything to our blog, but what can we say except that we have been super busy with school, work, and I guess just life. But we are doing the best we can at making the most of being in Kirksville. A few weeks ago we went to the Winterball at A.T. Still University(Bryce's school) and even though he was not very excited we had such a wonderful time. We spent the night dancing, hanging out with friends, and just enjoying our time together.

This is my friend Emily and her two month old little girl Isabelle. She is so cute and she loved being at the dance. She even got to dance with Bryce and that's big because she is only one of two women that have!!

We had so much fun and although we are counting down the days (3) until we can be at home with our families we love being together and just having fun.

2008-11-30T14:52:00.000-08:00

Its a Winter Wonderland finally in Kirksville!! It would have been great except we were driving home from a weekend in Iowa when it hit. But now that we are home snuggled in our miniature house we are enjoying it. So we thought we would share.

2008-11-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

Ok well, with alot of help, I think that I have kind of figured this out. I finally have a blog, so now everyone can quit bothering me about it. Although, it is fun to create and we are excited about letting everyone see what is happening in our world. We hope that everyone likes it!