Three Years

Can you believe it's been three whole years since Ev and I tied the knot?! I can! Seriously though, it really feels like an eternity to me... but not in a bad way. I think a lot of it has to do with having a baby this past year. It's just something about having that little guy in our lives that makes me completely forget I was ever single. I can hardly remember life before Boston, let alone life before marrying my sweet hubby, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Life has been more joyous, fun, crazy, stressful, and interesting than ever, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have been so blessed to have found such a caring, loving, romantic, protective, wonderful, worthy man who loves me and our baby and who loves and honors his priesthood. I feel so grateful to get to spend eternity with him. And of course I've gotta travel down memory lane with a few pictures from that amazing day three years ago!! I love you babe. Can't wait for the many years that lie ahead and all that is in store for us. I wouldn't want to experience any of this with anyone else. You have my heart completely. Happy Anniversary.

Estes Park and Our Fourth of July

Last week Evan, Boston and I along with my sister Alexis, brother Ryle, and soon-to-be sister-in-law Dani packed up and made the long awaited drive from Utah to Colorado. It was here that we met up with the rest of the Williams family and would enjoy a week full of adventure, fun, and laughs (there is always laughing when we get together). This trip was a mash-up of several different events. Independence Day is a given, but our outing also marked Evan's 26th birthday, our biennial William's Family Reunion, and a trip with some great family friends, the Jermains. We were so lucky that the Jermain Family loved us enough to invite us along on their traditional Colorado vacation. You see, they are die-hard hikers and for the Williams family this hiking thing would be a first.Nevertheless, the Jermains ever so graciously let us tag along and "tag along" we did. 

We left for Colorado on Saturday morning around six a.m. and arrived in Estes Park sometime that afternoon. But of course, before heading to our lodge we HAD to make a stop at the nearest Wal-Mart where we- as always- overspent on food and goodies for the week. After Wal-Mart and a quick stop at Mickeys, we piled back into the cars and headed to our final destination. Our lodging for the week was an amazingly beautiful, three-story home with five bedrooms; definitely enough space for the largest of families: the nine-member party Williams family and the six-member party Jermain family. That's 16 people stuffed under one roof for an entire week. You think we would have gone crazy, but this place was absolutely perfect and handled us well. Not to mention it was well equipped with a 60" flat screen TV, foosball table, and a ping-pong table. You better believe we had an entire night centered around a very intense double elimination tournament of ping-pong. 

The majority of our trip was centered around waking up at the crack of dawn and hiking to the most beautiful places on the face of this earth. Seriously we woke up at like 7 a.m. Everyday. On vacation. I didn't even know there was a 7 a.m. Needless to say, I wasn't a big fan of that at all, but the places and things that we got to do and see made it all worth it. We hiked a total of 36 miles in five days and I've gotta say that for this being our first time hiking, we did quite well. We were able to take Boston on two of the hikes that week. Although it was extra exhausting carrying that 25 pound child on my back, I loved that he got to experience all the beautiful things around him. He loved it just as much, if not more, than I did. Here are just a few pictures from each day of the hikes:

Day 1: Emerald Lake

This first day of hiking seemed more of like a "warm-up hike" to prepare us for what lie ahead later that week. It wasn't a very long or a very steep hike, although carrying Boston kind of made me feel like it would never end. I thought lugging that boy up four flights of stairs to our apartment on a daily basis would have prepared me for times like these. Needless to say, it did/has not. But he loved every minute of it and I would do it a thousand times over just so he could enjoy it again and again. This is also one out of the two hikes that Donna and Momma Williams joined in on. I loved having my mom with us on this hike! Even though hiking isn't really "her thang" and she doesn't love it, she put on her (semi) happy face and came along for the ride.
After a three mile hike one way, we finally reached our destination- Emerald Lake. As you can tell by the last picture, it was incredibly beautiful. We sat on the biggest rock that reached the farthest out into the lake, ate our lunch, and enjoyed the beautiness that surrounded us. On the way back down, my dad offered to carry Boston for me (Evan couldn't carry B because he was too tall and the bijorn sat too high on his chest or else he would have carried our child for me). I willing allowed Grandpa Williams to literally take the load off my chest and I think he loved every minute of it!:) Boston evertually passed out on his grandpa's chest from pure exhuastion and because he had missed his morning and afternoon naps. We got the cutest pitcures and I just have to share my favorite one

Seriously. The. Cutest. Right?

Day 2: Ouzel Falls

    

Oh Ouzel falls. How I despised you! If you can't tell by the very flattering picture of me to the right... this wasn't exactly my favorite hike. It was an eight mile round trip hike, which isn't even that long, but for some reason it was very exhausting. I sound like such a weakling, but that eight miles kicked my trash. The hike up to the lake wasn't that bad. It was pretty steep in some areas but for the most part the four mile hike up was bearable. It was on the way down that I just wanted to disappear from off the face of the planet haha. As we were getting ready to start our four mile trek down it started to sprinkle and it just kept getting worse. It started to pour, then came the thunder and lighting (which felt like it was literally two feet in front of my face. scary), and because we were going down hill at such a quick pace and it was raining, the rocks and wooded areas were super slippery and I fell. At least three times and it hurt. Half way through our way back I thought I was going to break down in to tears because of how much I didn't want to be there. I was wet, tired, cold, and just wanted to be in my bed. ha. It was miserable. Needless to say, I survived to hike another day. Which leads us to... 

Day 3: Sky Pond. My favorite

Hands down. Favorite hike of the week. Skye Pond was breathtakingly out of this world insanely beautiful. It was also the one hike my sweet hubby chose to sit out of. He decided to stay home that day with Boston and just re-coop from the previous days. I was super bummed to say the least, but then again, we had no idea just how amazing this hike was gonna be. Sky Pond was a ten-mile-round-trip VERY steep hike, but it didn't even phase me. I was so in awe at all the incredible things that surrounded us that I didn't care how hot, sweaty, and exhausted I was. Plus I wore my cheetah pants AND it was bandanna day AND I got the perfect bandanna to match my cheetah pant, so that right there just made everything so much better! My favorite part was definitely hiking the waterfall. It was also the steepest and slipperiest part of the hike, which made it kind of scary, but exciting all at the same time. Luckily, we had a few strong men with us to help us as we climbed up and back down the waterfall. I can't even explain to you how awesome this hike was, it's just something that has to be seen. Pictures don't even do it justice. So next time you're in Colorado make sure you make the ten mile hike up to Sky Pond. 

Day 4: Lake Isabella 

Lake Isabella was mine and Evan's last hike of the week (we opted out of going on Friday because we were too exhausted and wanted to sleep in at least ONE day of our vacation :) ) This was the other hike that Donna, Momma Williams, and Baby B got to join in on! It was suppose to be another short and easy hiking day, but I must have just been exhausted from the previous days because this one seemed to completely drain me. Or it could have been the fact that I had to carry an extra 25 pounds on my back again! Either way... I survived my last day and overall I loved it and would do it all over again tomorrow. My favorite part of this hike was after we had lunch at Lake Isabella; we were headed back down the mountain and Boston was so tired that he just passed out in his little carrier on my chest. He never does anything like that. He's not the type of baby who could fall asleep randomly on the floor or in his bouncer; he has to be in his bed cuddled up with his blankey. So when he fell asleep on my chest it was quite the pleasant surprise and soaked up every adorable minute of it! 

Here are just a few other pictures of some of the other stuff we did while in Estes Park.

First things first. We slept. A lot. 

In Estes Park they have the cutest little street full of little local shops. Visiting these shops and buying local souvenirs are a couple of my favorite things to do. We had so much fun and we got some really fun stuff. 

This is the wonderful Miss Donna. We love her.

We also made a stop at a local diner, that really wasn't all that impressive. Unfortunately. Food wasn't great, service wasn't great, but you better believe the company and pictures were great. 

 Yes, I use CamWow sometimes now. Thanks the wonderful Kelbster. She got me hooked. Filters just do something for me that natural lighting can't.

If you couldn't tell by the hundreds and hundreds of pictures (seriously, your lucky I could even narrow it down to these few that I posted) that were taken by the amazing Gary Jermain (thank you:)) we had an absolute blast. If money, time, and the Jermains allow it we will definitely be back next year; I'm not sure how much more of the Williams Family the Jermains can handle! We are quite the eccentric bunch, but we sure know how to have a good time. 

Third time's a charm...

Well here it goes. My third, okay more like twentieth, and final attempt to this whole blogging thing. I have been dying to start and actually MAINTAIN a good blog forever now, but could never find the motivation or even a good reason to actually do it. Sure, I could count on my mother and mother-in-law to actually read my posts and leave a comment every now and then, but still... not quite enough (sorry mothers).

Then something crazy happened... I became a stay-at-home mom. It was hard at first and very time consuming, so much so that it was a struggle for me to even sit down and read my email, let alone try to sit down and write an entire blog post. Then when my little guy turned about eight months, out of nowhere he became super independent and could entertain himself for hours upon hours. Suddenly I had all this free time and no idea what to do with it. So like any other normal .ha. person I started spending any free time I had on my computer, stalking other women's blogs (everyone does that, right?). It's a little embarrassing to say the least, but it's true. I loved was addicted to reading all these blog posts from other women about the same things I was so passionate about. Finally, I decided that this was the prime time to try joining the blog world once again. So here it goes.

TheReyneDays Blog will  be written mostly by me and centered around those things which I love most: my family, fashion, food, crafts, and much more! The hubs will definitely be writing some posts now and then because, let's be honest, he's a better writer than I am. I hope everyone enjoys reading our blog as much as we will enjoy writing it and I promise to do my best to keep you up-to-date on everything!

About us: The Reyne's 

BOSTON

Our beautiful little baby Boston is already ten months old; it's so crazy how fast the time has gone. I can't believe that in two short months we will have a one year old. We sure do love this little man though and truly enjoy watching him grow and learn new things on a daily basis. As of late, he has become quite the imitator. He loves giving kisses (mostly open mouthed kisses), waving "hi" and "bye-bye," screaming like a girl, and playing patty-cake/pick-a-boo. He's beginning to master the skill of crawling. We have the army crawl perfected and it seems to be his preferred means of getting around. Baby B, as we call him, also enjoys making messes, hanging out in the shade outside, dancing, and watching Despicable Me. 

KASEY

There are really only six major things you need to know about me, to know exactly who I am. One- I am Mormon/LDS. This is the one major thing that defines me as a person. I live for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love everything that it has taught me and for the person it has helped me become. It is the greatest blessing anyone could ever receive in this lifetime. To learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, just click here. I promise you will never regret it. Numero Dos- I am a wife (to the world's greatest husband) and a mother (to the world's greatest son). My boys are my everything- as you will see throughout my blog. I couldn't live without them. Everything I do, everything I think, revolves around them. Third- I am a daughter to, LITERALLY, the most amazing and perfect parents, who have taught me everything I know. Not to mention, I married into the most fabulous family and have the most wonderful and loving parental-in-laws ever! Fourth- I am a sister. I can't even describe how much I love my sisters and brother. I love how incredibly close we are and how we can talk about anything and everything. I just wish we could all live closer together and I could see them ALL everyday. I love my family dearly and would be nowhere without them. Fifth- I am a shopaholic. I openly admit that I have the slightest obsession with clothing and fashion, and I'm okay with it. Just to give you an idea of how bad my addiction is... I have to use the guest bedroom closet in our apartment to hang most of my clothes. The hubby and I have a walk-in closet in our master bedroom, but that could only fit my hubby's wardrobe and HALF of my wardrobe. I have accepted that this is in fact an addiction, but as of now I have no desire to seek help. Fourth- I am a Missouri Native. Now, you wouldn't think that this necessarily important to know about me, but it is. Currently, I live in the heart of Utah (Provo/Orem) with my boys and have been here for about six years. But Missouri is and ALWAYS will be my home. Other "not as important" things you should know about me is that I love food and I eat all the time, watching movies is my favorite thing to do, I'm not very creative but I like to pretend that I am, and I think that I have a great sense of humor.

EVAN

First of all- yes I know. I have the most handsome husband in the universe. Not only is this guy good looking, but he is really tall (which is great for me because I'm also pretty tall for a girl). And I don't mean tall as in 6'4 or 6'5, nope this big hunk is 6 feet 8 inches. His height was pretty much what won me over, along with all the other amazing qualities he has! :) Evan was born and raised in Lincoln, California. The thing I love most about his childhood is that even though he was abnormally tall, he grew up as a "skater boy." He didn't even play basketball until his Junior year of high school. The Varsity Basketball Coach actually approached him in the school hallway, pointed out that he was 6'8, and asked Evan why he had not tried out for the team in the past. He tried out that year, made the team, and has loved basketball ever since. He is a huge Sacramento Kings and Miami Heat Lebron James fan, but then again, who isn't? Evan served a two-year mission for our church in Salvador, Brazil. (When we first started dating, I would always make him say romantic things to me in Portuguese...did I mention I am pretty cheesy?). He has been home from his mission for several years and was recently accepted to Utah Valley University in Orem. He will be majoring in Business Management with hopes of one day applying and getting accepted to Law School. He is currently working for an internet marketing company in American Fork called OrangeSoda and loves it. If you know my husband you know what an amazing, caring, loving, and protective person he is. I am so lucky to call him mine and love that I get to be with him for all eternity :) 

He is here!!

I’m sure by now that all of you know that Boston Wyle Reyne has made his big debut. He was born on September 3RRRRRRRRRD, at 7:06am, measuring at 22.5 inches and weighing 8lbs, 13oz, but as easy as that is to write, bringing the child into the world is never that easy. This is his story… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9u9kimBDTc&feature=related

On Sunday, September 2^nd we went to spend the evening in Roy to visit Kasey’s grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Everyone was getting anxious for Boston to arrive, but none more-so than myself and Kasey (who was a few days past her due date). The majority of the evening was spent in the living room where everyone sat around, looking at their cell-phones; sharing articles, opinions, YouTube videos, and conversation boards with nearly every possible way to “naturally induce labor.” Some of those possibilities included 8-hour jump-a-thons on a trampoline, foot massages, pressure points, laying upside-down and drinking orange juice (not really, but I might go start a message board and see how many people fall for it), and various over-the-counter solutions such as Castor Oil.

We decided to give the Castor Oil a shot. Castor Oil works as a laxative, so when we considered giving some to Kasey, we put a single bullet  in the chamber and spun that revolver around for all it was worth, and gambled the risk of either A. going into labor or B. explosive diarrhea. The instructions say to take 2 tablespoons and let it work its magic. **Disclaimer, Castor Oil has not been approved by the FDA as a viable option of natural labor induction, and (if being used as such anyway) should only be attempted AFTER 40 weeks of pregnancy** When we left Kasey’s grandparent’s house, we had an hour drive ahead of us, and reading that the Castor Oil took an hour to take effect, she drank one tablespoon. The ride went well, but we didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. When we got home, Kasey suggested taking one more tablespoon, but only if she had something to take it with. I poured her a glass of soda and (unbeknownst to her… still… until this very moment… sorry Kasey J) added nearly three tablespoons of Castor Oil. I wanted that baby to come!! Good thing she is no dummy because she wouldn’t take it until she saw the actual amount of Castor Oil she was taking with her own two eyes. I was forced to dump the Castor Oil-soda down the drain and along with it went my hope of having our baby that night. However, that proved not to be the case! Kasey took one more tablespoon of Castor Oil on her own terms, and not 15 minutes later did she start to have “minor” contractions. My mother-in-law and I sprang for the door, in direction of the hospital. Kasey wouldn’t have any of it. Having gone to the hospital only a few days before and getting sent home, she didn’t want it happen again. She suggested that we clean up our apartment and that we would make a decision in an hour. Only 45 minutes into our cleaning and Kasey couldn’t handle the punches being thrown at her. She found herself crouching down, and leaning over counters during each contraction due to the intolerable pain. Momma Williams and I knew this was it so we grabbed the bags and ran for the car.

When we got to the hospital, they hooked Kasey up to the machines that showed her contractions and Boston’s heart rate. (Blue = contractions Red = Baby’s heart rate):

The contractions were coming naturally about every 3 & 1/2 minutes. After an hour of being monitored, the nurse came back in and said that the contractions weren’t strong enough and weren’t real labor contractions. She told us that we could stay and be watched for one more hour, or she could send us home with pain killer to help Kasey get through the pain of the contractions. Instantly we said, “Let’s stay for one more hour!” There was no way were going home without our baby! 20 minutes into that second hour of being monitored, the nurse came back and said, “Are you ready to have your baby?” We were all shocked, but didn’t quite understand what had changed in only 20 minutes. From outside our room, the nurses had been watching the same screen that we were seeing, and every time Kasey had a contraction (blue line peaking up) Boston’s heart rate would crash from about 155 down to 112 or lower (red line plummeting down, not seen in picture). They told us that it could mean Boston was holding the umbilical cord in his hand and every time Kasey contracted, he would tense-up and squeeze it, and therefore be cutting off oxygen which would explain the drop in his heart rate. The other possibility was the umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck and cutting off his oxygen supply during contractions that way.

Every hour would pass and Boston was getting closer and closer to arriving. During the late hours of the night/early hours into the morning, we didn’t even try to get sleep because we were so worried about his heart rate dropping. The doctor came in a few different times and talked to us about a c-section. If Boston’s heart rate kept dropping and didn’t “rebound” properly, they would have to go in and pull him out ASAP before he lost too much air for too long and flirted with the possibility of birth defects. With every contraction and every dive in Boston’s heart rate, we too almost stopped breathing until we saw his heart rate climb back to where it belonged. That was one of the longest nights of our lives. Every hour, the nurses would check to see how far along the process was and how close Boston was, and if we could continue, or if they would have to pull him out quick style. 6am rolled in along with the sun starting to show-up again and it was time! We had all made it through the night and it was looking like Boston was going to come on his own! Kasey was told by the nurse to start pushing. After only 30 minutes of pushing, the doctor was called in, and about 20 minutes later, he showed up. Another 5-10 minutes of pushing and there he was! We were so anxious to see if he was going to be a red-head (having a red-head wife, mother, and two brothers), brunette (after myself, my dad, and Kasey’s dad), or blond (like my sister and Kasey’s three sisters). His hair was the first thing we saw, and there was no way to miss it! It was dark! And there was a lot of it! He was born already needing a haircut, or ready to go to the rock show. That choice is his when he gets older ;). The next thing we noticed was the source of his dropping heart rate all night; his umbilical cord which was wrapped around his neck. (Turns out a large percent of babies have the umbilical cord wrapped around their necks and nothing comes of it, but the doctors and nurses still need to keep an eye on it just in case). After a long nine months, and a long nine-hour labor, Boston Wyle Reyne was dropped off by the stork and he is here!!! 

  

Another Round of Catch-Up

If anybody has a blog of their own (for personal purposes and without intentions of making an income), they know that new blog posts can only come once in a great while no matter what "blogging goals" they may have. Based on the fact that Kasey promised more blog posts in March, and it is now August... you could definitely call us the "casual bloggers" instead of "bloggers." I'm not sure exactly why new "bloggers" typically slow down after the first few months. Maybe it's because we have this idea of a blog that is going have tons of traffic, thousands of followers, and that companies like Netflix, Nike, or Samsung are going to e-mail us and ask to pay us for ad space on our blog. Fact is, I don't know the statistics, but that only happens to X% of bloggers. So, basically, what we're trying to get to is, we're not going to promise frequent blog posts, but we will promise meaningful ones when they do come.

Some of you have been pretty well-filled in on our life during the last few months (feel free to read on anyway if you'd like), but for the rest of you, it's time to play another round of catch-up.

While in California, Kasey was serving at a restaurant called Claim Jumper while I inspected iPhones during a huge "buy-back, then re-sell your old iPhones" project, for a company called Gazelle. The project lasted only a few months, sending home numerous employees to start the search all over again. I had just begun my semester at the community college and didn't put a whole lot of effort into finding a new job. We figured just grinding out the semester then looking for work would be better than trying to find a job to cater to my particular school schedule (after-all, this was a small, Lincoln, CA, not a normal busy, bustling college town). The semester was a success and brought my collegiate GPA from a 3.2 to a 3.8! Part-way through the semester, Kasey and I both got the impression that we weren't in the place we were supposed to be for the foreseeable future. It was a tough decision to make, but we knew that we were supposed to return to Utah, even though we had just a few months before, packed our stuff and hauled it all from Utah to California. It wasn't an easy decision to make, and it was an even harder undertaking to tell our family. They had sacrificed so much and had gone so far out of their way to make sure things worked out for us, it was not at all easy for any of us. Not only that, but we found out Kasey was pregnant, so we had dangled the dream of living so close to their first grandchild in their faces, then basically said, "sorry, we've gotta take that away and go back to (crappy) UT." Tears were definitely shed, and even more were shed than I'm sure any of the associated parties new about. It was a difficult time for a lot of people...

Aside from the fact that family, friends, and family-friends (ourselves included) were sad with the decision Kasey and I made to move back, our sweet baby boy was found to have been struggling with an issue called an "enlarged cisterna magna." The cisterna magna is a space in the back of our head, essentially between our skull and whats called the cerebellum. A "normal" cisterna magna, we were told, should measure at about 1cm. Boston's was measuring at 1.3cm. The doctor informed us that we should potentially prepare for "learning disabilities" and that we needed to keep an eye on it. Another Ultrasound 6 weeks later showed our baby's cisterna magna had grown even more from 1.3cm to 1.5cm! We were becoming more and more scared for our child. Every parent has this dream of the "perfect family," and our dream was turning into a nightmare. We were told by our doctor that our baby's head was growing at a faster rate than the rest of his body and if he stayed there too long, he couldn't be delivered normally because his head would be too big. They scheduled us to come back in 2 weeks and then we would have to start making decisions about when to deliver Boston, and how soon/pre-maturely he could be delivered, while still being as healthy and as developed as he could be. Too early and he wouldn't have been fully developed, leading to more complications, and too late his head wouldn't allow him to be delivered normally, on top of being proportionately askew in his head to body size ratio. We asked the doctors if this was something they saw often, or something that could get better. We were told, "at this point, we don't expect it to get better (having gotten .2cm worse in 6 weeks). You can probably expect learning disabilities, such as your child taking longer to learn things that children would normally learn at a certain age. At the next appointment, we can just hope that the cisterna magna is 1.5cm and not getting any worse."

We cried on the way home, scared and worried about the health of our baby. The "perfect family" dream was shattered and we started to prepare ourselves for whatever happened next, and whatever we needed to do as future parents. With the support from our parents and all of our family members from California all the way until Missouri, we decided to leave it in hands far more powerful than ours. We prayed hard during those two weeks, and everyone joined in fasting that God would take care of our baby. We returned for our scheduled ultra-sound, crossing our fingers that the measurement showed 1.5cm and not a pinch higher. The doctor checked all of the baby's organs, and limbs like normal, but we during this visit, we didn't care too much about that stuff. Kasey and I held hands looking only for the space in the back of our baby's head. The doctor checked, then walked out saying only, "i'll be right back." Another doctor came in and checked right where the previous had left off... the back of the baby's head. Nobody was saying anything, and we were becoming even more prepared for bad news. Shocked, and seemingly amazed, both doctors told us that not only did Boston's cicsterna magna not get worse, but that it got BETTER!! His cisterna magna was measuring .9/just below 1cm which was considered "normal." My face fell into my hand and tears fell from just about every eye in that room with us. We could not believe it! Our baby's cisterna magna had gone from bad to WORSE in a 6 WEEK period, then in just 2 WEEKS, it not only stayed the same, but got completely better! I've never believed in coincidence, and once again, this was no coincidence. God had heard all of our prayers, he was aware of our concerns, and he was aware of our child. I still to this day give thanks to our Father in Heaven for what he did! It couldn't have been done or made better any other way, than through Him.

Since that day, Kasey and I successfully made the move to UT. I started a new job, and our sweet baby Boston hasn't come yet, but the anticipated day of his arrival couldn't come any sooner... that day is tomorrow!! So soon we will be able to hold our loved child, and physically hold the blessing that God has permitted us. For a while there, we got to know our baby by seeing him in ultrasounds every few weeks. We have only seen him once since, in the last 3 months, and when he finally comes, we'll get to know him all over again in another round of catch-up.

Yes, we are "those" people

It's true. We are "those" people... we are they who permanently request off Monday nights from work so we do not miss one of the most exciting moments of the week, they who spend a significant amount of time and dollars on making Monday nights a night to remember, those people who just cannot get enough of The Bachelor. I don't know how or when it happened, but we became "those people" and cannot seem to escape it (probably because we really just don't want to). 

I don't know what it is about this particular reality show, but it is definitely our favorite. The drama, the love (fake or not), the fights, the Kasie's, the Courtney's... we eat it up. But we ask that you please do not judge us for we know what we bring upon ourselves, and we know that you secretly love it too. 

However, I must say that this season of The Bachelor was one for... the trashcan. Absolute garbage. But we persevered through all of it (it being- all of Courtney's fakeness and Ben & Lindzi's extreme awkwardness) to the end. We had a fabulous Finale Party full of friends, cupcakes and Panda Express; and although the finale was nothing to remember, the company and food definitely were. 

Ani & I got together to do a little cupcake baking. 

These are our "Courtney/Linzdi Cupcakes." We are most proud of the witty little Courtney Quotes on the chocolate cupcakes. 

Panda Express... We love it. 

We found out about a third of the way through this season that

 Ben & Rachel were also "those people" and decided that we 

had to join forces. This season would not have

 been the same without them. 

Me & the Reyneman... so excited can't ya tell :)

Chad is the latest addition to our little Bachelor Gang. Not sure if we 

have him fully committed (addicted), but I feel that we soon will, 

especially with the wonderful Emily being the 

new Bachelorette. 

Apple Pie

Yes, it has happened. I have had one of my first pregnant cravings.

APPLE PIE. 

I never really appreciated how wonderful apple pie truly was, until about 10:30 pm last night. Evan and I were sitting in our bed, getting ready to go to sleep as I leaned over to him and confessed my craving. Being the wonderful husband he is, he put on his slippers and a jacket, and then put on my slippers for me.. and out the door we went. 

He took me to a place that served the most wonderful apple pie's I had ever tasted. I could not believe that I had not yet bought or even tasted one of these fabulous pie's!!

McDonald's Baked Apple Pie. Seriously. Have you ever had an apple pie from that place? It's amazing. Served hot and fresh and it melts in your mouth. I almost made him take me back for a second serving, but decided that was a little too crazy. So I savored every bite and then happily fell asleep. Don't be surprised if you're working at Lincoln, CA McDonald's and you see the Reyne's back again tonight. There's a 98% chance that it will happen. 

Where To Start...

Ok, so here we go again... As you can probably tell our first attempt at this whole blogging thing was somewhat of an epic fail, but we're gonna do our best to not let that happen again. There has been so many changes and so many wonderful things that have happened that we are so excited to share with everyone! So here it goes...

Where to start? Well, let's just start with the most exciting, most wonderful news of all. Evan and I found out on Christmas day that we are going to be having another little addition to our family!!!!!!!! Yes, I'm pregnant!! We are absolutely beyond words excited about the whole thing, it was definitely the best Christmas present we could have ever received. I am about 13 weeks along to the day and am already starting to show. It's crazy, but I am convinced that this little one is gonna be quite the big baby (which won't surprise anyone I'm sure, seeing how big his/her mommy and daddy are). We won't know for 6 more weeks if we're having a boy or girl, but we have decided that we definitely want to know the sex of the baby. I am dying to go to Target to buy a cute little outfit or pair of shoes, the anticipation is killing me! The pregnancy so far has been really well. I have had zero morning sickness which, as others have told me, makes me one very lucky lady. Although there's been no morning sickness, the amount of fatigue and tiredness I have been experiencing is insane! If I don't get at least 9 or 10 hours of sleep at night, I'm dead on my feet the entire day. I also just got done working 2 serving jobs, so those 10-12 hour days on my feet did not help with the extreme exhaustion. Let's just say... right now, naps are my best friend. 

My beautiful little baby bump at 13 weeks! 

In other news... Evan and I are no longer living in Utah. About six months ago we decided to pack our bags and head out even farther West. We are now living in Lincoln, California. This is where Evan was born and raised and where his family currently resides! With the news of the baby on it's way, we decided that being close to family would be ideal... so here we are in the great state of California. So far things have been great. Stressful and a little rocky, but great. We enjoy so much being so close to Evan's parents, siblings, and grandparents and getting to spend so much time with them! They have been so great in everything that they have done to help and support us in this move! Job searches and the search for our own place hasn't been the easiest, but we are preserving! We are on a couple of waiting list for a couple of apartments and I finally got a great job as a server at the restaurant Claim Jumper.

Evan has finally gotten back into the world of classes and homework and could not be doing any better. If you didn't know already, my husband is a pretty smart man. He is taking three classes at Sierra Community College in Roseville- Economics, English, and Accounting. So far he has loved his classes and teachers and is doing really really well. I am super proud of him and so excited for what he has ahead in the future. 

Well that's all I got for now! I'll try to make this a daily habit, but no promises people! :) 

Keep the birds coming!

I remember the first time a little bird flew inside someone's window and told them something that that someone desperately needed to know. I had never seen one myself, but I was hearing about them more and more. I asked myself one day, "What birds!? Where are these talking birds that people are always talking about!?". It took me years to finally understand that these "birds" are the ones who gave me a girl's phone number when I wanted to call her without her having given her number to me. These same "birds" once told me that "Kasey wasn't quite ready for a boyfriend, but that she really liked (me)". Well... SUCKERS!! I proved them wrong!!! Kasey WAS ready for a boyfriend, she just didn't know it for herself yet, and here we are, married now! We've been married for almost 8 months and here come these birds knocking at our door again.

A couple of birds have told us it was time to update the Reyne Day (thanks birds, here we are), others have said that we need to leave our stomping pad and land our feet somewhere new (we're talking about it and we'll get back to you), but mostly they've been saying, "when are you going to give us grandkids?!?!?!".

(PLEASE TAKE 5 SECONDS TO WATCH THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CLIP -WITH SOUND)

Yes, birds, we're watching you!

So after about 5 months of ignoring the chirps, we're gonna get on it and clean up the mess.

I hope I've kept you all filled in enough to know that I am working in a different department at Xango now. I am no longer working with the Portuguese Distributors, but I am working instead with Craig in the mail center. In the mail center I receive and deliver incoming packages, package and ship outgoing packages, and you know, logistical type of stuff. Kasey is working (for free haha) for the Boy Scouts of America. It's her intership and it is going really well. She has been helping to plan and organize a 5k run and has been asked to student teach a couple of times a week at the local Elementary School. Seeing as her major is Recreation Management, we're not quite sure why she has to student teach.. she doesn't want to be a teacher.... but the 5k event is right up her alley. There are only a few more weeks until she is done!!! In April, Kasey will be walking the stage in her cap and gown, but will still have to finish Statistics before August in order to be a true graduate. Kasey is almost done with school, and I'm almost re-starting...

A long time ago, in my best friend's bedroom who is now far far away in Brazil (Hi Josh), I decided that I wanted to continue my studies at BYU and eventually land myself in BYU's Law School. Much thought, consideration, and planning had gone into this goal, and I was going for it like that song Chad and I had to sing when we stayed at our Aunt Phyllis' for a week one summer and went to a religious camp for kids.. "Go for the gold, run for the priiiiize... (as we held up a fake, hand painted torch)". After taking the long trip back to Arizona, things started falling into place and I shortly after made it to Utah! Two years have since gone by, and I still have yet to make that goal a reality by returning to school. After figuring out all the details with Kasey, the application was FINALLY, completely submitted with transcripts from my previous semesters at BYU-Idaho. We spent Thanksgiving in California with Momma and Poppa Reyne, then Christmas in Missouri with Momma and Poppa Williams. Here we are in March, and we just found out that I was rejected like a basketball player getting stuffed out of the gym on a breakaway layup.

The rejection letter had some great things to say, but in the end says, "This decision should be considered final" (Aka: don't apply again cause we already said no and a new application won't change the reason why we said no). Had I recieved this notification 2 years ago, I probably would have freaked out, gotten scared and been completely lost, but I am not bothered one bit by this decision now. Originally, I thought I was supposed to be in Utah for school, but I know now that the reason I was lead to Utah was to find Kasey. Well, I found her, and now my chapter in Utah can finally end and allow a new one to commence.

At this point, we are ready to soar with those talking birds and give them grandchildren. Since Kasey will be done with school, and I will be heading back to school, we will be making a temporary 180 degree turn in our roles. Kasey will work and I will go to school. Our situation will require the help of our much loved family, with our children. We want to have family nearby so they can help watch the kids as Kasey and I juggle school, work, family, and other responsibilities without sending our kids to daycare. The sooner I can get school done, the better, then we will be able to move onto yet another chapter in our life!

As of now, a new blueprint is being drawn up and will soon become our official new plan! So all I have to say is, Keep the birds Coming!

It's been a HOT minute!

If you're unaware of the phrase "It's been a hot minute", don't feel like you're too old to understand what the youngsters are saying these days or that you missed the latest incredible movie that everybody will be quoting for months! A "Hot minute" is only known and actively used in the English language by myself and a small handful of 3 other people. A hot minute (depending on the context) can be compared to an amount of time as if it was molasses slowly creeping it's way the down the actual North Pole itself, or it can be like a new baby cat dashing for it's lair under the bed when it gets shot with a water bottle!

"It's been a hot minute since i've written on my blog" -Long time/molasses

"It's been a hot minute since I ate Wendy's" -Short time/super fast/recently

So, right now, I'm going to take a hot minute to get us all caught up (no pun inteded).

After our wedding, when Kasey and I got back from our trip to Missouri, we didn't hesitate to get right back into the daily grind. We spent lots of time organizing our new apartment and getting everything put away. We jumped right back into work and school and began our jourmey on the "day train" instead of "cloud 9".

School has kept Kasey plenty busy, and as the youngters do in fact say; "kicking our trash". A celebration is thrown whenever she has no homework and we usually end up doing something special like taking a jog to the nearest park and shooting some hoops or somthing. Work is equally keeping us busy. I recently have actually applied for a couple of new possibilities. One can only take calls like, " QUERRRRRRRRRRRRRRO 4 CAIXAS DE SUMO!!" and complaints over and over and over on the phone in Portuguese for so long. It kinda wares on you and starts to attack at your "happy gland", you know, the one inside your heart that makes you feel happy or sad.

Other than work and school, there has not been a whole to report at the moment. Except for "Toby"....

So, just this last weekend, Kasey decided that she REALLY wanted a new addition to the family (and not the kind the takes 9 months to be delivered by the stork), but a CAT! I've not had the best of experiences with cats in the past. My grandma has 2 cats that she refers to as "Real people/Royalty in cat suits". I once had to babysit those little royal kings, and I soon became their laughable jester at the round table in their castle. I already wasn't a "cat man" before that period of life, but the experience even furthered my desire to welcome a furry feline into the front door. Needless to say.. we got a cat.

We've had the cat for what seems FOR-EVVVV-EEERRRR (imagine the kid from The Sandlot)!!! He's just a baby and loves to be obnoxious and tear up all our furniture. When I try to cuddle up with my wife to watch a movie, he has to come in and try to lay down in between us. He's already showing signs of a rotten, oversized rat like the ones on The Princess Bride. After much conversation, Kasey and I have agreed that a baby cat is not the right addition to our family at the moment, so we are already giving him away.

To Kasey, we're saying Hello and Goodbye to the cat in less than one week.

To me, we're saying goodbye to the cat after a LIFETIME!

So either way... we got the cat, and now we're passing him on... and it's been a HOT minute!

Where to Start?!?!

So here is attempt #2 to fill everybody in with what's going on! Last week I spent a solid couple of hours writing the latest blog post in order to catch everybody up, but when I went to post it, an error popped up saying, "Your request cannot be made at this time" or something like that, and right about that time, my whole post had disappeared! It was gone!

Naturally, I wasn't exactly excited to get back on the grind and re-write it! If you've ever seen that amazing T.V show "Friends", I felt like Ross after he had written a huge, important speech for a convention and somehow lost it! The good part about Ross' speech though, was he had only minutes before; shared his speech with a friend who was able to help him re-write it. I on the other hand was left with a blank screen and a threatening silence that seemed to imply, "it's gone sucka! it's all gone!"



So, here I am again for the second shot!



A lot has gone down in the last few weeks, and there is really no better place to start than here: Kasey is officially, 100% a "Reyne" now!! Yes, we finally got married on July 31st, 2010 in the LDS Salt Lake City Temple. The wedding day was incredible! Our ceremony was scheduled to begin at 11:40am. Our guests were to start arriving at 11:15am. Kasey and I of course had to be there a little earlier. Our mark was set for 10:00am. The drive from the town we both lived in was about 1 hour from the Temple. I set my alarm the night before for 8:30am. When the alarm rang to wake me up the next morning, I casually showered, got dressed and arrived at Kasey's place ready to go by 9:00am. Kasey on the other hand had been up since about 6:30am, and was still scrambling by the time I got there just to get out the door on time. But hey, it's OK, it's her wedding day and she can wake up super early and still almost be late if she wants to.
The ceremony was beautiful and it was great to have such close friends and family present. After the ceremony, it was equally decided among everybody in the family that it was time for some lunch! We all went and got some food and then we all went about our afternoon doing whatever and running errands.

Lets fast forward! Close your eyes! Look up, and look down, now look back up and you're at the site of our wedding reception; where the guests were welcomed and we celebrated our marriage! I'm on a computer! (Doo, doo doo, do doo dooo). Our reception was held in the yard of some really good friends of ours. The story of how we met those friend is kind of long, so I'll give the "Reader's Digest" version so try to keep up. I served my Mission in the Salvador, Brazil Mission. In Brazil, I met an Elder named Elder Griffin. We became friends and soon after, Elder Griffin's 2 years had ended and he returned home. In the meantime, Kasey was going to school at BYU and was super good friends with a long-time classmate named Natali (yes that's spelt right. There is no "E" at the end of Natali and she's dang proud of it!). 2 more years into the future, I get home and start living life again in the United States. Just under another year flashes by like the speed of light; I met Kasey and we started dating. One day Kasey wanted to go on a double date with the two of us, her friend Natali from school and Natali's husband. When they were planning out what we were going to do, they discovered that Natali's husband's name was Evan, and so was mine. When all four of our heads got put together, we realized that Evan was the same Evan (Elder) Griffin I had met in Brazil about 3 years earlier! It was crazy! So, needless to say, we all became great friends and Evan and Natali have become our Favorite and Best Friend-married couple to hang out with. Back to the beginning of this paragraph; Natali's parents have a large backyard that they rent out frequently for wedding receptions, birthdays, and other types of parties. They were so kind, and they offered us to use their yard for our reception. The reception was a huge success! It looked great, the weather was perfect and we had lots of family and friends show up.

At the end of the day, Kasey and I were off to Salt Lake City for the night, but first we had to make our daily stop at "Mavy". Mavy is the nickname we gave to a gas station that is really called "Maverick". We stopped for our usual "DP's" (Diet Pepsi for her, and Dr. Pepper for me, hence "D.P."). We saw our usual gas station friends who we've grown to know so well from our visits every night. They congratulated us and sent us on our way with our cold 44 oz. DP's in hand. We went to our new apartment, grabbed some things and a change of clothes for our little trip and off we were.

The rest of the weekend was great as we prepared for the new week ahead of us as Mr. and Mrs. Reyne. The next week was scheduled as follows: Monday morning - 6:30am-3:00pm, Evan goes to work. Tuesday Morning - 6:30am-3:00pm, Evan goes to work. Wednesday - 6:30am-3:00pm, Evan goes to work. Wednesday afternoon 4:00pm-?? drive to Missouri. "WHAT!?!?!" "WHAT WAS I THINKING when I requested to work for three days only 2 days after my wedding and then go to Missouri?!?!" I obviously was not thinking at all. So Sunday night, I called into work and said just that, "I have no idea what I was thinking when I said I would work for 3 days, and then take a week and a half off! I'm actually just going to take Monday-Wednesday off as well and make that a full 2 weeks off!"

The next morning we were off to Missouri and ready for a 2 week break from the grind of "real life". Our trip to Missouri is a new day and a new story! When I start to write about it, I find myself all the way back where I started... "Where to Start?!?!"

The "10 Day" Mark

Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 21 is the last double-digit day before Kasey and I get married! As soon as tomorrow is over, we'll be in the single-digits and even that much closer to our Happy Day and making this the best and most memorable summer of my life! Our last week was full of packing, moving, working, posting and mailing invitations, and finishing up all the little details so everything goes smoothly on the big day.

During these next 10 days, our families and friends are going to start showing up from California, Missouri, and wherever else they might be and we couldn't be more excited. We're so excited for our Parents, Grandparents, and Siblings to get here and meet eachother. It is truly going to be a sweet occasion and has been an incredible summer thus far.

Last week was like our own last 2 minutes in a playoff basketball game. We were on the grind to find a place for Kasey and I to live starting August 1st, and we were racing to beat the buzzer. After so many long days of searching, so many failed attempts, so many rejected phone calls, and so many "sorry it's already been rented"; Kasey and I finally found a place. It's not at all far from the complexes where we live now and it is a great place for us to start out. It's basic, but comfortable, and we love that it's our own place. We have been busy packing and moving our things over there so it'll be ready for us when the time gets here.
Kasey has become quite the negotiator lately too! Being as she lives with 2 of her sisters, it comes naturally to disagree with "who gets what clothes?", "I want that make-up", "I'm taking those movies! I got them for Christmas!", "No you didn't! Mom and Dad bought them and I brought them back from our last trip home". She's made some intense deals to get the things that are important to her and she's done a great job!

After and between our sporadic work hours, we were finally able to lick the last envelop shut and push it through the dark mail box slot with all the rest. The invites have been sent and will be arriving soon if they haven't arrived already. (If you're reading and haven't recieved your invitation, please let us know in the comments below, give us a ringa ding ding on the telephone thing, or email us at reynedays@gmail.com)

Aside from all the busy and stressful stuff, Kasey and I are normal people too! We went and saw that movie "Inception" with Leonardo DiCaprio and it is AMAZING!! When you go see it, don't waste time asking question cause you might miss what you need to see or hear in order to understand what's going on. For the first 30-45 minutes you'll be lost and won't understand what is happening, but keep paying attention cause within the next 30 -45 minutes, you'll react out loud like we did in the theaters, "OH MY GOSH!!! SERIOUSLY! WHO CAN EVER SIT DOWN AND THINK OF SOMETHING SO GENIOUS!?!" It blows your mind really. It ends in a way where when you walk out of the theater, you have so much to talk about (for all you going out on a first date with someone, this is a movie to see because the drive home will not at all be awkward) and you'll be saying things like, "the kids were wearing different clothes" or "I'm gonna change my major in school, quit my job, and become an Inceptionist!!"
-Apparently the love of my life wants to become an 'Inceptioning Avatar'. Pandora... here we come to own your dreams!-
Speaking of dreams.. one is coming true because we've made it this far.. even as far as The "10 Day" Mark.