Spring Break

We spent the first part of our spring break visiting Shannon, Linds, and Griff in Oregon. It was a long, but beautiful drive. We stopped along the way to put pennies and quarters on a rail road track. I had always done that with my Dad growing up, and I guess just assumed everyone else did too. Kyle had never, so he was quite excited about it. The flu was going through the house when we got there, but we still had a few really fun days with them. Griff has grown into a toddler so fast, and he has the best facial expressions. We drove to the coast on Sunday. Shannon created his own way there of course.

me and griff

uncle kyle

griff

Kyle slept a lot of break once we got home to Bellingham, so I used my time to catch up with two of my best friends, Stephi, and Jaylin. I miss home a lot, but one of the biggest parts I miss about it is spending time with Jaylin! We use to have family nights (myself, Kyle, and Jaylin) once a week. Kyle didn't have much choice because Jaylin was a part of the package of dating me, but he can't deny that he loves his "gooch". We stayed with Eric and Bridget and spent lots of time with baby Cohen. He has gotten huge too!! He smiles and tries to talk non stop. The first night we got home I had about a two hour conversation with him. Definitely not in English, but he totally knew what was up. I met baby Hunter (Stephi and John) and took a few pictures of him. First newborn I have ever seen smile that much. I know, it was probably just gas, but his gas made him SO PRECIOUS. Kyle got to hang out with one of his best friends (Robert) and they went to Glenns. Our schedule always gets a little crazy when we come home because there are so many people we miss and love to see. In the last few days we spent a night with Tammy and Ryan, and then a sunny afternoon with Kate and Nick. My mom was in Oregon watching Griff through the weekend, and my Dad has been working, but we spent as much time with them as we could. We also went to dinner with Kyle's parents and spent some time with his family. It is always so refreshing to spend time with friends and family from home. I always feel like I'm finally catching my breath when I am home. “Always remember to slow down in life; live, breathe, and learn; take a look around you whenever you have time and never forget everything and every person that has a place within your heart.”

kyle and cohen

jaylinagain 

nieces and kady

Thanks for making time for us, Love Us

Hunter Nicholas Murray

I have seven older brothers. I grew up in a big house, with an even bigger yard. I loved being barefoot, climbing in trees, and trying to keep up with the boys. I have been told so many times over the years that God gave me brothers to make me stronger, protect me, or whatever other reason people conjure up in their minds. What many people don't realize is that one of the biggest blessings God gave me growing up was my Stephi Kay. I have known her my entire life, and we have been best friends through everything under the sky. We may not have the same blood coursing through our veins, but in every other sense of the word we grew up as sisters.

I am about nine months older than Stephi, but she always did everything first. She lost her first tooth before me. She had her growth spurts before me. She learned how to ride a bike, pogo stick, and do flips on the trampoline before me. She got the chicken pox (and my mom made her hug my brother Daryn and I but I never got them) before me. She started shaving and got her first bra before me (sorry stephi haha)...she had her first kiss, got married and had a baby before me. Some girls might have been jealous of all these things, and I'm sure a few of them I was upset about when we were younger, but I'm so thankful now. I am the luckiest girl in the world because I have a best friend that will have my back through all of these things. Stephani and John welcomed baby Hunter into the world on February 28, 2012. Now they have a sweet girl, and a handsome boy. I don't know what it is like to be a mom, but I definitely know how to spoil nieces and nephews with love. And I know what it's like to be sitting in the middle of dinner with your best friend on the other end and listen to her newborn baby cry. My life is made up of a million moments. They flash in front of my eyes from time to time. Some make me cry, and some make me feel overwhelmingly happy and blessed. So many of them have been shared with you. You have become a beautiful woman, and an amazing mother.

baby hunter

five.

We just passed the date that marked five years of being together. As some of you are aware God had amazing plans for our lives to come together long before we acknowledged that. We made a lot of memories together in the few years leading up to dating. There were days we brought out smiles in each other when no one else could have, and days when we laughed until our sides about split. We were there for each other in moments of silence too. Neither of us knew what exactly we would become. If I had a bad day at school or something was going on, Kyle would go for a drive with me to find puppies or something that would make me happy. When he had bad days I would sit with him or do my best to get his mind off of things. I am not really sure why either of us ever cared in the first place. I'm not sure what it was that brought us together. Our track coach in high school always laughed at us and teased us about our "relationship". We never liked each other at the same time though. We also never officially dated anyone else. I guess a good sign that we liked each other would have been the fact that we got ticked whenever one of us talked about someone we liked. I chalked it up to high school and him being a dumb boy. We started going to church together on Sundays and often had lunch after with friends, and sometimes just us. I thought for sure he liked my friend and that was why he was always hanging out with us. Somewhere during that seven months leading up to us dating Kyle started coming in to see me at work. I worked at Cafe Caffe at the time. Looking back, and even at the time, it was one of the best jobs I've ever had. I laughed every shift, and worked with the most amazing group of young women (including the owner, Carole). I'm sure Kyle would have figured out eventually that I liked him, but I like to think Carole played a key role. I know it took a while for Kyle to cook up the courage to ask me out. Before I could admit to myself that I really liked Kyle Aamot, Carole lit the fire for us. She held up this little sign while I had my back turned to her because I was talking with Kyle. His face turned bright red and when I realized what she was doing mine I'm sure turned even redder! So, thank you mama hen for giving us the push that sent us on this amazing adventure.

carole's sign 2007

Love, US

It's Sunday

 Kyle and I use to go on Sunday adventures almost every week. The past two semesters have left us exhausted and drained though. We finally were able to get out of the house today and just go. (This was after Kyle locked the keys in the car while it was running and had to wedge open the door and unlock it with a wire hanger.) We drove through the country and out passed the WSU wildlife reserve and Kamiak Butte. Kyle was determined to find a raccoon and then force me to make him a coonskin cap. GROSS. Obviously this was not going to happen, but I just smiled and laughed it off. We pulled up to the edge of an old abandoned property. There was a house and a few barns and sheds. We hiked along a creek to the house and Kyle went right on in. He found paw prints on the walls and was positive raccoon's had made this house their new home. He climbed over some wood piles and went further back and I stayed frozen by the front door. It kind of looked like a scene from an awful horror movie. The whole time I was just waiting for some creepy man to jump out with a chain saw. Next we went into the barn. There was long jagged saw pieces hanging everywhere and old machinery. Did not help my jitters! Kyle went out of the barn and I thought he went into the shed. I moved quickly over to the shed calling his name because at this point I was getting goosebumps. He wasn't answering. I kept calling his name and started to go into the shed. I stopped because I thought maybe he was hiding inside waiting to scare me. I called out that it wasn't funny anymore and peaked inside. He wasn't in there. After losing it, tearing up, getting flashbacks of criminal minds episodes, and yelling his name several more times I found him. Wandering behind the shed with Taylor happy as could be. He asked me what was wrong with a smile. Rude. 
 I was more than happy to get out of there and head home. It was a short adventure, but it was still nice to go on one after such a long time of being loaded down with school work. 

old house

kyle disappearing by the shed

creepy saw thing

                                                                                                             

Bath Time

           Some things never change. Taylor has always hated getting baths, and we get a laugh about it every time we even say the word "bath". She puts her head down and tries not to look at us, and then starts shaking like we are about to do the worst imaginable thing to her. Now that she weighs 90 pounds it is even more ridiculous that she is a lab who hates baths. She gets so excited to even walk through a puddle, but the word bath terrifies her. She's such a silly dog, but we love her anyway.

almost 4 and still such a wimp

taylor as a puppy

some snowy weather

The snow finally decided to make an appearance this year. My did it have a grand entrance! It snowed and didn't stop for a week. WSU canceled school for one day. This was a big deal because they have only canceled school twice in over a decade. Kyle and I both love the snow, so we threw our sleds in the jeep, grabbed some friends and played in the freezing cold. Even though the semester has just begun we were both very happy for the break. The snow stayed for about a week before it started melting. We have had freezing rain and even colder temperatures so Pullman is still a sheet of ice. We made a snow man on our porch just in time. He's a little different, but we didn't have the usual snowman making supplies. Kyle also felt the need to use antlers instead of a scarf or hat. I guess it suits us! 

night sledding

our snowman!

Hope you all are safe and warm enjoying this wintery weather. Love, Us.

Christmas 2011

We attempted to do every other year for the Holidays, but it was more difficult than we thought it would be for Christmas. We ended up having a crazier schedule than we expected, but it was nice to squeeze everyone in. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that we live in the same state as our families, and that both of our families live close together. We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We had a lot of little ones running around this year. It is crazy how fast a family can grow. I now have eight nieces and nephews. Six of them were there, and all but one of my brothers were there.During the day we played twister and baked/cooked, and that night we wore ugly Christmas sweaters to put a twist on our tradition. As we get older it has been nice to have this night to come together and continue family tradition.

everyone that was left at the end of the night

Kyle and I stayed up until midnight and he opened his birthday gifts from me. We spent Christmas morning with the Aamots. A much quieter and smaller tradition, but we will enjoy having one side smaller while it lasts.

The Aamot Family

Merry Christmas!! Love, us