Holden Andrew Van Blerkom

So, I'm awful for letting 22 weeks go by without blogging our biggest news of the year... But here it is now. We are expecting a little boy come March 1st! He's a healthy little munchkin thus far. Everything has been growing the way it should, and I really can't complain. The pregnancy hasn't been nearly as rough as it could be. We'll be naming him Holden Andrew. :)
This would be the spot where I'd insert pictures, but my uploader has been malfunctioning...
Pics to come soon!

Update Part 3

Update Part 3-

We've moved!
So i need to confess that this is a huge part of the reason i've been neglecting my blog all summer.  We were in a really crappy situation with our old landlord.  I could go into details, but these are supposed to be quick updates, so I'll just say it involved a lot of black mold.  Note to anyone looking for a place to live in Orem: don't ever rent from Lon Lewis with JKL rentals.  He doesn't do his job, and he doesn't care if the apartment is making you sick.  We're in a much better spot now. Pictures to come as soon as we're completely unpacked.  It's taking a lot longer than we anticipated.

Update-Parts 1 & 2

So I have been horrible. I've neglected my blog page for long enough and as a result I've decided to make up for it with a quick series of updates.

Part 1-

We went to lake Tahoe.

It was awesome to spend a week with the Van Blerkom clan in Tahoe.  We got to boat, swim,  read and relax.  So needed. :)

Part 2-

I discovered instagram!

I may or may not be absolutely in love with this app.  I don't do nearly enough cool stuff to use it often, but i'm really enjoying following friends and some random strangers. :)

Powell

Last week we went to Lake Powell with the Vance clan.

It was for most of us our first time, so we had some interesting experiences learning how to beach a houseboat.  I've never been on a lake so deep before that you couldn't just throw your anchor in anywhere and chill in the middle of the lake all night. It's fun to be able to just jump from the boat to the beach and play a round of bocce ball, or make a campfire and then be able to just jump right back to the boat to sleep in a normal bed.  The water rose over a foot everyday, so we were tightening our ropes almost every 3 hours.  Thank goodness for my brother-in law Jeremy for being able to take charge and drive the boat, and tell us what we needed to do to keep anchored to the beach.

I can't believe how beautiful that lake is. All my life I've had the attitude that to find cool places like that you have to go foreign. I never realized (even living in Utah) that places existed in the US where you could explore on a jet ski and find little secret lagoons or hike into little canyons, or get into caves that are only accessible by water.  There is so much beauty on that lake, and an unlimited number of places to explore.

Dallin getting ready to show his mad skills

Britteny jumping off the roof of the boat

Weston and Sawyer watching Despicable Me while their mother's swim

Dallin jumping the campfire

We had a lot of fun. We played poker with the family, we took the jet skis all over the lake, Dallin and Brandon went wake boarding, the little nephews got to play on the beach, we had a campfire almost every night, we made s'mores and played bocce ball, we sat in the hot tub on top of the boat under the stars.  I'd definitely do Powell again. I don't know if i'd do a house boat though. It's so much work. I think i'd rather just take a speed boat and camping gear and sleep on the beach. Also i'd like to go in September next time so the water level is lower and theres even more to explore. :)

Oh yeah, and there's one more development that occurred on this trip.....

My mom and Robbie are officially engaged. The wedding is on July 22nd.

Negligence- An Update

So I apparently have sucked quite a bit at blogging lately- Apologies!! I promise to try to do better in the future. :)

So my blog is sadly not the only thing i've forsaken over the past few months. My camera has sadly sat in the back corner of our desk drawer also, and as a result all photos of fun we've had are limited to Dallin's iPhone. (which never leaves his possession long enough for me to swipe them) So more apologies for the lack of pictures.

Things are good with the V's. Dallin is currently a shoo in for the supervisor position at work, which makes us super excited. He should get a raise and benefit options. We sold Orion the Scion (my car), getting enough money to eliminate all our debt. :-D ZERO DEBT! Best Spring ever!  I've been walking everywhere which is good cause i'm super out of shape, and i've been getting to know our neighbors better, making friends.  Also, on that note, my co-workers peer pressured me into doing a 5K to help people with Hemophilia last weekend. I walked for most of it, but I didn't die and I didn't come in last.  Dallin was wonderful, he made me run everyday it wasn't raining so that my heart and lungs wouldn't give out come race time.  We've been trying to make the most of the summer thus far- casino nights, trips to the hot springs, neighborhood BBQ's, reading, and trying to soak up as much sun as humanly possible.  Now that I'm no longer doing massage and Dallin isn't in school, we've both been on regular people schedules which means that the only day we don't see each other is Thursdays. :) One day a week is nothing compared to 3 in a row on weekends and another on tuesdays. It's so nice to be able to spend real time together instead of just playing catch up with each other's lives. We're currently attempting some Spring cleaning.  Apparently we have ants in the apartment- yikes. However, I got rid of the brown recluse problem on my own a year ago, so these ants should be heading for the hills soon. Things are really good. I'll do my best to keep the blog as up to date as I can!

So I realize I havent exactly been the best of bloggers lately. I haven't had a real post since October, but I'd be lying if I said that it was accidental. To be completely honest, it's been hard to want to blog about things that make your head spin. I feel like people really only want to read about the good things that are going on in other peoples lives. Well, not that the past little while hasn't had any good in it, but it certainly has been a rough few months.
I suppose the best way to say what i'm trying to say is that these past few months have been a real learning curve.  Sometimes the toughest trials teach you the most valuable lessons.  For instance, family really is the most important thing.  The only real constant in life is inconsistency, and we need to be adaptable.  Just because you've gone through a really tough trial doesn't mean that you're exempt from other really hard ones, or even the same ones repeated over.  I've prided myself my whole life for being adaptable to change.  I'm quickly finding, however, that if you let your guard down and settle into one state of mind, or put all your eggs into one basket (in terms of plans) there's a good chance the rug will be swept out from under your feet.  (no matter how much practice with change you've had)
Sometimes it seems like you're being kicked when you're down and things keep flying at you regardless of your lack of energy to cope with them.  Some of these things are true tragedies, or really rough trials, but a lot of them are made out to be much worse than they actually are because they've let down our unrealistic expectations.  We can't expect to get everything we want in life, and we are certainly not entitled to any of it.
The trick is to put your faith in the plan of the man upstairs and trust that he knows you well enough and loves you well enough to provide the things you require to be happy.  The rest is just superfluous.