Christmas!

We had a really great Christmas...we didn't get much, but had more fun just being around family. We started at my parents house and let my brothers open all of their gifts from Santa, then we headed to Grandma Vicki's, to Grandma & Grandpa Frei's, and back to my parents house to eat breakfast. It was fun to see the kids unwrap their presents and fun to play around all day long. It was pretty exhausting for me...I had to take nap in the middle of the day just to regain some energy. Later in the day Grandma Virginia and Grandpa Fred came over to visit as well and the rest of the day we played the Wii and Rock Band which ended up being pretty hilarious! The best part of Christmas was the day after Christmas! Grandma Vicki's present to everyone was a ticket to the Jazz game! we left around noon, drove through a bit of snow but made it safely into Salt Lake just in time for the game. We had a blast watching the Jazz, especially since they won. The following day we woke up and did a little shopping and then my parents too us to see "Savior of the World." It was incredible and the spirit was so strong. It was another great reminder of why we really celebrate Christmas, as well as, how tender and gracious our Savior is. It's going to be a remarkable day when we get to see Him again and how humbled I am that we are so fortunate to have Christ in our lives. What an amazing season it is to reflect on what life is really all about!
A big thanks to my family for making this Christmas one of the best!

Christmas Eve

This Christmas our family was in charge of the annual Christmas Eve program held here in Santa Clara. It was a lot of work but ended up being a lot of fun. Mykelle and I were in charge of the 10 year olds group and we taught them the song "Light up the Tree." They did a great job but I'm glad we don't have to practice anymore. I also got scammed into being Mary for the nativity part...and poor Dalton was the Joseph. All the kids had a blast getting their presents from Santa couldn't wait to go to sleep!

After the Christmas Eve program we went and ate at Grandma and Grandpa Frei's, then headed back home where we opened our pajama's. All 7 of us kids and 2 spouses slept in my parents theater room..how we all fit I don't know because we had 4 mattress' in the room. The kids woke up after 6 o'clock and we didn't go down stairs until about 6:40 the next morning!

this is Kameron's group singing the Marshmellow song...

Jadon had a solo. He sang "Mary Did You Know"

Me and Dalton the incredible Mary and Joseph

At my parents house opening the pajama's!

Jadon's Play & Thanksgiving

Monday the 24th of November we got to go and watch Jadon's play Beauty and the Beast...it was so much fun. They did such a great job, and of course Jadon was amazing. Britton also did a super job at being Chip...it was fun to see him sing and play a fun part!

What a crazy Thanksgiving!! The Whipples came to our house this year--which meant we had a house full! I think they counted about 35-40 people including the kids. Early Thanksgiving morning the boys had there annual Turkey Bowl. It was quite hilarious to say the least. Me, Mykelle, and my Mom went and watched for a little bit...it was a cold morning but that didn't stop anyone from playing!

We ended up eating dinner around 130, and had TONS of food. This pic /\ is part of the fam eating dinner. There was also a table full and all the kids at the bar. There was so much food that we pretty much made ourselves sick!

Later that evening, after everyone had rested, there was a crazy game of basketball across the street from our house at the church. Our family is so competivtive, and I was a little upset I couldn't play, but it was lots of fun to sit around and watch!!

How lucky we are to have such an awesome family. Everyday we feel more and more blessed! We missed Misi's family this year and wish we could have seen them!!

Long Trip Home

We left Texas November 21 around 930 in the morning and headed for Utah. Misi and I both had to drive cars, I drove mine and Misi drove a rental car. We did it that way because we had too much stuff that our one car wasn't going to hold everything. We drove all the way to Albuquerque that night and made it around 1130pm. It was a very long and tiring day; we both thought we were going to die by the time we made it to Albuquerque. We stopped and stayed the night at a Hampton, and then got up the next morning to finish our trip home. We met Sue and Randy (my aunt and uncle) in Flagstaff, which was really nice because I got to ride with my aunt, and poor misi still had to drive but had Callum to ride with him which kept him awake. We were very happy to make it home and extrememly tired, but at the same time felt very blessed to have arrived safely.

IMPORTANT! CHECK THIS OUT!

This is exciting!!! I just had to share what is going on since we've been home. My mom and dad just got us started in this great new business. My parents have been in for one week and in two days have already made $720. This business plan is amazing, easy, and it works! If you are in need of some additional income, call me and I will take you to lunch--seriously. You really have to see this! Send me a message or leave a comment and I will get with you.

3D Photos

Yesterday we went and tried to get a good 3D picture. The very first try was the best picture that he could get. The others were very hard because the cord was in the way. I was pretty pleased with the one good one though. We are still kind of trying to figure out who she looks like...I think that she looks like Misi just by looking at the nose. So, you guys can decide what you think! A big thanks to Dr. Meduna who kept trying and trying. He is an awesome doctor and we are so thankful that he did this for us! Sorry about the glare! We don't have a scanner so we had to take them with the camera. I tried really hard to get them to turn out but these will have to do for now.

Glucose Test

Yesterday I went in for my sugar test...when I got there they pricked my finger to see what my sugar level was at, then had me drink the juice and wait for one hour. After the hour they pricked my finger again and said that I failed the test. I missed it by 3 points. So, that meant that I had to go in for the 3 hour test and do it all again. Today I woke up at 7 and went to LabCorp to do my three hour test which started at 8. They make you fast so I stopped eating at 8 o'clock the night before so I could make the full 12 hour fast. When I got there they drew my blood, and then had me drink the juice which was way stronger than yesterdays (and thicker) after I got it all down I waited until 9:05 to draw my blood again. They drew blood again at 10:05 and then 11:05. It wasn't any fun at all because I used both arms due to the fact that the one arm was getting really sore. On my last draw she couldn't get any blood to come out so she had to draw from the other arm. That made a total of 3 holes on both arms...my arms are sore and bruised now haha. But it's ok! It was well worth it.

Right after my appoinment I went over to my Doctor's office to do some 3D ultrasound pictures. Misi wasn't able to come with me because he had to take a test but it ended up being ok because we couldn't get very good pictures. The baby had her hands on front of her face the entire time and at one point her arms were making a full X which pretty much said she wasn't interested in moving. I tried to stand up and roll over a couple times but she wasn't about to move. The Doctor did take a couple side profiles that were good, but not what he wanted. I will be going back in tomorrow afternoon and try one last time to get some good pictures!

That's the lastest so far. We have a busy couple of days ahead of us, and another busy weekend! Misi is going to Houston to try out for another arena team, and we are in the process of getting everything packed and ready to head back to Utah.

Jadon's Finger

Because my mom is on a cruise and has no way of communication but an hour on the internet every night, I thought I would do the honors of what is going on back home. Yesterday I called Jadon just to check on how everyone was doing and see if the kids were ok. He said that everything was going good but he had just cut the tip of his finger off in his culinary arts class while cutting a potato. It wasn't the nail part but the soft tissue right underneath it. He met grandma Vicki at the Instacare and they just wrapped it up and tried to stop the bleeding since it was an open wound. It looks like it was very painful but he's been doing well he said.

The other 3 younger kids are doing fine as well. Grandma Vicki said that she went to Brittons Veterans play at the school. Kameron was supposed to go to the play but he didn't want to miss his football practice haha. Kallan I think is just fine, going to school. So, there you go mom...a minor update of what's going on while you aren't there.

Here are some pictures...they are kinda graphic so if they are too rough for some I'm very sorry. My mom is all about pictures.

5K & A&M Footbal Game

On saturday I woke up around 7:45 and decided that I was going to participate in the local 5k run. It was located at Wolf Pen park, which is actually a really nice park with a few trails, and was a fundraiser run for animals. Misi didn't go with me because he isn't a long distance runner and he just didn't really want to go, so I went alone. I met up with some members of our ward who ran it which made it nice. Thank you to Cat for the encouragement and for letting me know about the race! I did pretty good even though I have a belly. I did wear a belly brace which helped a ton-and my 'run' was actually a very slow jog and I even walked for a bit of it just because it would have been a little too much I think. Other then that, I had such a good time and can't wait to do more!

After I got home from the run we got ready for the Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma game. Misi got a sideline pass and I sat with Prince in the stands. The entire day was beautiful and the weather couldn't have been better! Prince and I almost didn't make it into the game because our tickets were student tickets only-they told us we would have to go and pay the other half of the ticket to get into the game. Thankfully, we were with Misi, and sure enough he worked his crazy magic and talked to the guy who let us in. I honestly don't know how he does it-but that is typical of Misi. So as I said, our tickets are were in the student section, and if you've been to an A&M game, you know that the student section is WAY over crowded and you aren't aloud to sit at any part of the game. So, Prince and I ended up finding a seat on the grass at the end of the field which was directly under the BIG screen. It ended up being really nice because we got to watch the whole game without being squished inbetween people. A&M didn't win but we had a lot of fun watching their last home game at Kyle Field.

This would be the student section that we would have had to sit in....

And here is the screen we got to watch the game from...we literally were right underneath it!

HUGE Suprise!

Today has been a really good day so far! I got the biggest suprise on Halloween! My co-workers, out of no where, threw me a shower at work! I was just sitting here at work and then they called me into the back-out of no where everyone was standing around with a cake and baby gifts. I was so excited, and so grateful at the same time-they spoil me here at work. Jessica made me this awesome hand crafted book with pictures of all my co-workers and baby advice. She also got me 3 very cute outfits. Kathleen got me 2 outfits, and a baby einstein lullaby CD which is going to be great. PJ got me a gift certificate, as well as, the Stephensons. Anita got the cake and also gave me a gift. Such amazing people! They really are the neatest individuals and such a blessing to work with. I am so grateful for their generosity, and for making me feel very special.

Tagged

The tag was to 1.) Go to the pictures folder on your computer 2.) go to the 4th folder 3.) get the 4th picture in your folder 4.) Tag 4 other people. This amazing picture is taken at the movie theater here in College Station. There isn't a whole lot to do here so we see a lot of movies. As you can tell everyone looks so excited because we just got out of a movie, and I'm just being my good ol' self. I don't really know who to tag, but I'm gonna tag my mom Denise, Wesley my brother, and two other people who feel that this tag is meant for them!

The Tryout

I have to say that my wifes belly is getting bigger and her attitude is pretty "BOSSY" HAHAHAHA I'm just kidding I really love her. I have been preparing myself the last couple of weeks for the arena football tryouts and it has been really tough. Thursday morning I left for SLC to tryout for the Utah Blaze. I arrived in SLC around 8 o'clock and the tryout was Friday morning at 8, so I had to get home to get some rest. I woke up around 6:45 Friday morning, ate breakfast, and drove to University of Utah Indoor Facility where the Utah Blaze held their tryouts. There were a lot of athletes that showed up from different colleges; Penn State, Nebraska, U of U, Vanderbilt, Weber State, and many others. We started at 9am with a warm-up and then the coaching staff divided us into 3 groups. The group I was in started with the 40 yard dash, shuttle, then the broad jump. Afterward, we had position drills which I felt went really well. Then we went on to one-on-one with the offensive linemens and fullbacks. It was funny because there were some big guys trying out. After one-on-ones we went on to full team which was intense because everyone was trying to impress the coaches. After teams they called everyone together and told us they would let us know how everything went in a couple of days. Before I left I went and talked to the Defensive Coordinator to introduce myself. He asked me how much I weighed, who my agent was, and told me he was impressed with my time on the 40. He also so said that he would contact my agent for me. Overall, everything went well. It felt good to be back on the field and I look forward to hear about the results. I felt very grateful for the opportunity to tryout and blessed to have this type of experience.

The Infamous Pictures....

This is a moment many have been waiting for. I have been putting this off for a while now and figured now that I am 24 weeks I should just post these dangs things and get if over with. Prego Pics, only 2 but it's the best I could do with the resources I am limited to. As you will notice I have a hard time taking things seriously, especially this type of photo-and the stance. Ugh, the side profile. Oh well. This is history right? Whitnee being pregnant, something that most (my family) never thought they would ever see. I'm done ranting now and I hope that you enjoy them. They are taken at my work, so I have my work shirt on. I also thought it would be a good idea to take some photos since Misi is in Salt Lake and I have a couple more minutes at work to spare.
So there you have it! 24 weeks along and I have to say that these pictures look bigger than I really am, or think, I guess.

Tagged

Never done one of these 'tagged' things, but figured they were pretty easy questions that I could figure out!
8 Favorite T.V. Shows
-The Hills
-The Office
-Project Runway
-Anything on TLC
-Anything on Food Network
-That's So Raven
-Grey's Anatomy
-American Idol(when it's on)

8 Favorite Restaurants
-Cafe Rio(miss it a lot)
-Blue Baker
-In n Out (not really a restaurant but that's ok)
-Cheese Cake Factory
-Cheddars
-Raw (sushi, thanks aunt sue!)
-Honolulu Grill
-The Pie Pizzaria

8 Things That Happend Yesterday
-I went to work, as usual
-I went to the park with Misi and Prince and played catch with the football
-Did some walking/running while at the park
-Made sandwhiches for dinner (we have that a lot)
-Helped misi with his homework while working
-Went to the church and watched Misi and Prince play 'Church Ball'
-Talked to Mykelle and my Dad for a bit
-Best part of all was layed down, watched T.V. for a bit, and read my scriptures.

8 Things To Look Forward To
-Misi making a team!
-Heading back to Utah to spend time with family for the Holiday's
-Our baby arriving
-Thanksgiving and Christmas
-Finding our own place to live
-Running a triathalon/marathon
-Buying a new car and baby stuff
-Seeing Misi happy and feeling successful in everything he does

8 Things I LOVE About Fall
-The weather
-The food and smells!
-Jackets and sweats
-Building fires
-Color of leaves
-Holiday atmosphere
-Football season
-Family time

Humor

I have to admit that I absolutely love to LAUGH! This has been my therapy most of my life. Whenever something hard, trying, and frustrating comes along I have found the best way to kill it is through laughter. I have to thank Misi for putting up with me and all my complaining and for always making me laugh when I need it. My family can testify that I can be a bit strange and out of control and truly enjoy making others laugh. I feel like I have one of the goofiest families ever! As we've gotten older it's been fun to see how much more we laugh and make fun of each other (my dad is included, he's a big goof). What would it be like if we didn't laugh? The odds are it wouldn't be fun to be around anyone. I also have to thank my beautiful sister Mykelle for making me laugh on command. Just the other night I was having a very hard time and I texted her and told her to say something funny. Sure enough, she wrote back with a funny movie quote and some lame jokes. Priceless. Thanks for cheering my up Ses and making me laugh. I thought it was a good point in my life where I have to express my gratitude for being able to laugh and look at the bright side to all situations.

There isn't a whole lot going on in our lives right now. I am still working for the Chiropractor while Misi is finishing up school. He is going to be in Salt Lake this weekend trying out for the Arena League. We definitely look forward to hearing good news on that and wish Misi the best of luck! He has been working hard trying to back into good shape, and I couldn't be more proud!

Helping Hand

Well, its been awhile since we've updated our blog so I decided that its my turn to write a spiritual experience or something meaningful. I guess my week started off with an Email from President Bradford, asking all priesthood holders 16 and above to volunteer in helping the stake members in Conroe because of the damage caused by hurricane IKE. Without hesitation, I volunteered myself without asking my wife if it was ok. Whitnee was pretty shocked when I told her that I am planning on going to conroe, but at the same time was excited that I am doing something very important and meaningful.

I was amazed at how many people showed up at the chapel to help out. In the Email President wanted 30 people but come saturday their were 100plus volunteered to help. It is an amazing feeling to know that we can always count on the saints to help out. It took us about half hour to get to Conroe and once we got there we started to work. We lifted logs, cut trees down, and pretty much went from house to house cleaning up broken down trees.

The second weekend we went back to Conroe there were two groups from the ward that went. We were able to help out a non-member named Andrew Eason who has been a cop for 17 years. We cleaned his back yard and cleared out all the trees and branches that had been broken up by the wind. Afterward we finished we took a few pictures with Andrew and he started to tear up while telling us that for 17 years as a cop he had never had someone do that type of service to him and his family. We also gave him a Book of Mormon, and President Kuttler told him that it was another testiment of Jesus Christ. Andrew embraced the Book of Mormon to his chest and had never been more grateful. The second home was a retired navy soldier that we were able to clean up. This entire experience was a good experience-all of the families were shocked that they didn't have to pay us for the service we did.

The Pot Of Soup

Last night was one Misi and I will never forget. During the week Misi was getting e-mails from the bishopric. They were in need of volunteers to come to the church and help out while with the evacuees. At the time there were about 40 people/families staying at the church. They had to evacuate their town of Pasadena, due to the severe weather. So, Misi, to my surprise, signed up for the Saturday night, 6PM-10PM shift. I have to admit I was a little shocked because he doesn't always volunteer. I ended up going with him because he and Sini had signed up, and Prince was going too...so there was no way I was going to stay home alone. We got to the church right around 5:45 and they began to show Misi and Sini what to. It really consisted of just sitting there and helping out when needed. Prince and I were like great, we should have brought a book or something! A little while later, our Bishop walked in. As calm as ever, he began to tell us he got a call from our Stake President who lives in Conroe. The president told him that Conroe was hit bad...there were many members homes that had problems, there was no power, and no running water. He also said that they were sending a few more families to the church due to the conditions. At first the count was about 50 people, and then later on only 3 families showed up. So, we all scrambled together and began to rearrange rooms, get things organized, blew up air-mattress's, got pillows and blankets ready. It was now becoming more exciting! A while later the Bishop came back to us and said that he called our Relief Society President, Sister Carter, and told her we may need a pot of soup or something for these people who are coming in late. Sister Carter immediately replied by saying it was already done. When Bishop told us this I didn't have any doubts that Sister Carter had it done already. She is a very neat and spiritual being. Later that evening Sister Carter showed up to drop off the soup. I went over to her and thanked her for being so prepared, and thought it was so neat that she had been inspired to make this soup. She began to tell us, while in tears, that all day she had a feeling she needed to make a pot of soup. She kept telling her husband she didn't know why, but knew she needed to make it. Her husband said that the hardest part was they couldn't decide which kind to make! When she got the call later in the evening, she said she couldn't believe it. She was worried that she had lost the Spirit and was so relieved when the Bishop called her. It was such a neat experience for us to see the Lords had work through the members. Even just by offering a simple pot of soup helps others in need. We had such a good time helping out the evacuee members, and look forward to the service projects coming up! I have never been so grateful in my life. The Lord teaches us through small and simple things-what a fun weekend!

Food and water fromt the church that we moved to clear a room.

Some mattress's, pillows, blankets and sheets provided by our ward for the evacuee's.

Prince at the church happily serving!

Hurricane Ike

What a crazy weekend! I got to experience my first hurricane. It started Friday early in the day-Houston and Galveston getting the worst of it. It didn't come over us until about 6AM Saturday morning. We had 50-70mph winds and LOTS of rain. We were the lucky ones! It tore down quite a few trees, and even a few fences. In the back of where we live we watched the wind blow over a fence. The poor people of Galveston and Houston! They got it really really bad, and my homes were lost. It's crazy because we are only about 90 miles away from Houston. There is one thing that really stuck out to me, and something I am very grateful for. The Gospel. How lucky we are that we have the church to lead and guide us, especially when it comes to being prepared. It was so interesting to watch people scramble to the store to get food and water, and how fast everything went. We went to the store on Friday just to get a few extra things, and the bread shelf was completely gone, flour, sugar, and water were also gone. Even though we didn't get it too bad here in Bryan/College Station, it was a great reminder and testimony builder for me. Coming from good old St. George, being surrounded by family and have the shelter of my parents had me more than grateful! Sometime this week we will be going to Conroe and possibly Madisonville (two towns that are in our Stake that got hit hard) to help clean up homes and neighborhoods. In Galveston, people still aren't aloud to return home. It's very sad because a lot of these people really want to get back and see what their homes look like. In Conroe, Madisonvill, Houston, and Galveston, and other surrounding cities...the water is bad so they can't use the water. There also is no power, which they aren't sure when it will be fixed. It's just so sad to see all the destruction. Again, we are very gratefulthat we were safe and blessed!

A fence in the back of our apartment that got blown over.

This is the front of our apartment during some of the wind storm. It's kind of hard to see, but there are leaves and branches everywhere and it was raining. There was also a lot of uprooted trees that I didn't get pictures of.

Here are some CRAZY pics of what went on along the coast...mostly in Galveston and Gilcrist.

Big News!

Today was a pretty exciting day for Misi and I. We went for my first big ultrasound at the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 1:30, and after a few minutes of trying to figure out where to go we found the right place. I went to admissions and got registered and then headed back to the radiology office. We had to wait a 20-30 mintues until the girl finally came and got us. She took us into a small room and then proceeded with the ultrasound. It was a lot of fun to see how much the baby had grown. We hadn't seen the baby for about 2 months, so it definitely grew a lot. We were able to see the little hands and feet, long arms and legs, and even watch it open and close its mouth. After about 45 minutes, another girl came in to finish up. The first girl couldn't quite figure out the gender so she told the new girl to figure it out. By this point I could tell Misi was getting excited, as was I. She dug into my stomach and full bladder to get to a better view of the baby's lower region...after which she began to explain what the 'little black dots' represented. It was sure enough a GIRL... I didn't really know what to think. I was going to be excited either way. Misi and I were just kind of in shock...it's just so weird to know that it is actually a baby girl. I'm sure that it will be the most real when she is finally here! After the appointment I texted my Mom and Mykelle, and then Dad, Wes and Jadon. So all my siblings found out..and were very excited. Mykelle told me she already wants to go out and buy clothes! Can't argue with that one. Each of the little boys (Kallan & Kameron) called to find out what it was after they got out of school. Kallan thought it was going to be a boy, and seemed pretty cool about it being a girl. Kameron on the other hand, had a different opinion. I had talked to him the night before and he said he didn't know what he was going to do if it was a girl. He wanted it to be a boy so he could teach him how to play football! Well, he called today and asked..'So, what is it.' I told him to guess, and he guessed a boy. I then said..'You are 100% WRONG!' LOL...He started to scream and said 'WHAT!? It's a girl!!' hahaha...he seemed so excited. He was really just mad about the fact that I said 100% wrong because he was sure he had it right! Kameron can always make us laugh. Misi also called his mom and told his brothers. They were pretty excited but thought it was surely going to be a boy! We are happy either way! We just feel very blessed to have a healthy and strong baby, and can't wait for her arrival. We are beginning to finalize a name for her...so I will post again when we have it all figured out! Here are a couple of the pics she gave us today..not a whole lot but kind of fun.

Volleyball

This weekend we got to enjoy some good ol' Texas A&M volleyball! They had the annual Texas A&M Invitational, which BYU women's volleyball team was apart of. It was a lot of fun to watch BYU play, and made me feel homesick again. A&M also played really good too! They beat No. 16 BYU for the championship game, which was a fun game to watch!

FOOTBALL

It is officially football season, and we are pretty excited. I definitely love the atmosphere of a football game. The Aggies here in Aggieland have their first football game tomorrow...and we are excited to watch them play. Ican't forget to mention back home, BYU is playing as well...we will be rooting for both teams. Hopefully we will have some good new about Misi and his football career. We have waited for quite a while but know that is is for a good reason, and will only bless our lives. Good luck to Mykelle this weekend as she plays in her tournament. We look forward to hearing how things went.

Fun at Lake Bryan