Life: March - April

March was full of a lot of Keddington family time. Henry and Addie both turned 1 in March. Plus, Jeff and Shannon announced they were moving to Arizona, so we were eating up all the time with them that we could.

We love our little Henry Danger! He is the sweetest thing! He's so happy (when he's not sick) and he is nice and puts up with a lot being the youngest of five kids!

After Henry's party I got to go to a murder mystery dinner with my cohort. It was super fun! Zach and LeeAnna put together such a fun mystery. And everyone did a good job of getting into it and not feeling silly. Those things do not work if everyone doesn't get into it.

I was Rapunzel's daughter, Harriet

Left to Right: Jack (Peter Pan's son), Giselle (Snow White's daughter), Sir Jason "Jay" of Locksley (Robin Hood's son), Adelle (Belle's daughter), Me, Dawn (Aurora's daughter), Kray Kray (Mad Hatter's daughter), Cinderella, The Ruler Formerly Known as Prince (Anna's daughter), Star (Ariel's daughter), & Jean Ralphio (Pocahontas' daughter)

Addie girl is quite the little stinker. We love her though. She, on the other hand, does not like Alicia or me. We think it's because she thinks were are her mom's impostors. She does love her cousin Dax and her Grandpa Chief a lot though.

Alicia and I asked Shannon to come down the Sunday of the temple dedication so we could hang out with them again. We ate yummy food and made cute headbands for the two little girls. Addie was having none of it by the end, so she is not happy in any of the pictures, but she's still cute!

During their Spring Break, Shannon and Mom brought down Addie, Dax, and Porter and we met up with Alicia, Will, and Kate at the bowling alley in the Wilk. It was the first time most of them had ever bowled and it was a little chaotic, but it was a lot of fun!

My birthday is not exactly my favorite time of the year. This year, Kyle worked until pretty late the Friday before, so I went to dinner with Alicia and Peter. Saturday morning Kyle's siblings and his cousin came over for breakfast and the first session of conference. Between sessions Kyle went and got Thai food for us, since it is my favorite and we just enjoyed it being just the two of us for the second session. Then Kyle and Jordan went to dinner and Priesthood session while I went to spend the time with Alicia and her kids. The next day (my actual birthday) we watched conference in the morning and then headed up to my parents' house for the second session and to eat dinner after. Kyle made the cake for me, which everyone was very impressed with. I think one of my favorite parts was the cards my nieces and nephews gave me. They are getting so big, which is sad, but I love the little people that they are becoming. When we got back to Provo the lights were out in our apartment. We found some creative lighting and talked to Kyle's parents like we usually do on Sundays. Then Kyle gave me "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" for us to read together before the movie comes out in November. It was a nice, quiet weekend.

I'll admit, the last month or so of tax season was been kind of rough. I thought I would have less of a hard time with tax season than I did. It wasn't so much the late hours as it was the fact that with the commute, Kyle and I were only spending about 45 waking minutes together a day. I was really missing my husband. We have talked a lot about it and tried to figure out ways to improve it so that it won't always be bad. The last week was better because we talked more and we knew the end was in sight!

Pretty sunrise after taking Kyle to the station.

Saturday I took Kyle into work for a couple of hours while I went to Centerville to work on my final and watch Abby and Lyla's soccer games (they are both getting super good, by the way). After I picked Kyle up we went to City Creek to The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate finishing tax season. As difficult as it has been sometimes, I am incredibly grateful for Kyle throughout this whole thing. He has been so attentive and has tried so hard to make me happy. I love him a lot. And I am not going to complain that I get to see him more often now!

The weekend after the end of finals was Kyle's brother Jordan's wedding. So we headed to Oregon again. The drive was uneventful. We spent the next couple of days just hanging out with Kyle's little sisters, mostly. His mom had already gone to Seattle for some pre-wedding activities. Thursday we drove to Seattle for the open house. It was a nice event with super good food. It is a little weird because we didn't know anyone, but we had a good time.

Friday I literally spent 12 hours in the kitchen. Maria decided to do the food for the luncheon and the desserts for the reception, so we had a lot of cooking to do. The boys were setting up the tarps in the backyard, pretty much the whole time, but it turned out super nice! Carly's family came over for dinner and fathers' blessings. They also opened presents, which made Kyle and I glad we hadn't made our families watch us open presents! Ha! A bunch of Kyle's family also came to town so it was nice to chat with them. We spent a lot of time finishing things up and went to bed pretty late.

The next morning I woke up super sick. We're talking fever, joint pain, nausea, sore throat, the whole works. I took some medicine and Kyle and Nate gave me a blessing so I could get through the sealing. The sealing was really nice. I don't think Jordan stopped smiling the entire day! He was the happiest human ever to be getting married!

We waited for pictures for quite a while, so by the time we finished with the family pictures I needed to be in, I was feeling sick again, and the cold didn't help. I went to the car and waited there until everyone was done. We went back to the house for the luncheon, but I just went upstairs and went to sleep. For like 4 hours. I missed the whole luncheon, the rearranging for the reception, and the first part of the reception. Kyle came up after the luncheon and slept with me. We did go to most of the reception and chatted with important people.

Literally the only picture we have of the wedding.

We headed home the next morning. I was feeling a little better by then, but Kyle's dad woke up with the same illness as me! Oops!

Once we got back, we headed back to school for the semester! 

Life: January - February

The last main highlight of our trip to Oregon was watching the little girls perform at the high school's little mini dancer camp. Those girls can move!

We had a great break in Oregon and were very sad to leave! Luckily we didn't have anything exciting happen on the trip home, either!

We did come home to an apartment that smelled horribly like rotten chicken though. Apparently some chicken juice got behind the fridge and stunk up the whole place. Kyle and his brother moved the fridge and Kyle bravely cleaned it all up. He's the best! The beginning of the semester was insane for me with my two comprehensive exams, multiple presentations, and our conference submission deadline. Kyle did a tax internship this semester, so luckily he was there to pick up the slack when I was at my busiest because his job hadn't gotten crazy yet. Seriously, there was more than one week when I didn't even walk into our kitchen because Kyle made all of the food, packed it for me, and did all of the dishes. He's the best!

I made him take a first-day-of-work picture.

My sisters and I got to sing with the Beckstrand girls a couple of times for different Young Women programs. We all love the Beckstrand girls and it was so fun to get to sing with them, especially as it will be the last time for a while with Jessica and Shannon both moving out of the state. 

The beginning of February marked my class' thesis defense. I was super worried about it, but because I had incorporated the feedback I had been given a couple weeks before into my project, I passed easily. In June I will officially be Master Dowdle!

The weekend after my thesis defense Kyle's family came to town for Presidents' day weekend/Valentine's day/Adalyn's birthday. Again, we had a great time playing together, eating good food, and laughing. We went to the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the MoA one night (which weirdly enough Kyle and I had already seen). We also got to play at Provo's new rec center. That was a lot of fun. But also super tiring! We celebrated Adalyn's birthday on Valentine's day Sunday by everyone coming to our Sacrament meeting and then spending the day at our house because, surprisingly, it has the biggest space. Kyle loved that his brothers got to stay with us and the four boys could play some video games together (thanks to his parents giving us their old TV and Xbox for Christmas). It was also on this trip that we discovered Rose's Sneakerdoodle ice cream at the BYU creamery, which has become our favorite. So that's good.

The Provo City Center Temple open house started in January and went until its dedication in March. Kyle and I went early one Saturday morning and toured it and then I got to be an usher for a couple of shifts since we are in the temple district. It is seriously so beautiful (sidenote: we did a session there for the first time and it was so neat because all of the windows give it so much natural light!). 

We also went to a few basketball games in January and February for our date nights/days. My cousin Taylor has been cheering for BYU for three years, but she got married and is transferring schools so her husband can play football somewhere else. We are sad that we aren't going to be able to watch her cheer!

Life: December

December is such a fun time. We love all of the people we get to see and the fun things we get to do. It is also a crazy time. Lots and lots of parties to go to and homework to finish. 

We spent the beginning part of December attending parties (including my cohort Christmas party, my research lab party, Karen's going away party, and more than one family party) and finishing up school. And being sick. We are really good at taking care of ourselves when we are sick (not).

We also went to the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional with my sisters! So much fun!

Alicia and I also got to hang out with Lizzy and Mary and their cute kiddos for a few hours one day. I can't believe I didn't take more pictures! Still, it was so fun to get to spend some time with them. Those girls have been so instrumental in making us who we are. I don't know what I would do without them!

Will and Pace!

The end of finals signaled the opening of the newest Star Wars movie for Kyle. While I did see it, I was not quite as fanatical about the whole thing as my husband was.

This is pretty much the only decorating I did for Christmas.
But I made these, so that's cool!

Derrick and Mary decided to come to Utah for Christmas, so I convinced my mom it would be a good time to get some family pictures taken. After all, we now had all of the adults and none of the women were pregnant and no one had given birth in the past five months. It was a definite win. Naturally that day it snowed like crazy so even getting there was an adventure. Taking pictures is always interesting, but the more people there are, the more interesting it gets. There was a lot of bribing going on, and not just for the kids.

Behind the Scenes

Still, I think they turned out pretty cute! (Also, my family seems huge now! When did that happen?!)

He loves me, I promise!

Derrick and Mary

Jeff, Shan, & Addie

Peter, Will, Alicia, & Kate

Mandi, Nate, Porter & Dax

Henry, Amy, Lyla, Spencer, Abby, Connor & Max

Classic!

Original Eight

Cutest Girls!

Again, Classic! 

After pictures we went to see my brothers' old soccer coach and his family to sing a couple of Christmas songs because their 15-year-old daughter had passed away suddenly the week before. Then we headed back for a big lunch. After lunch everyone played around and hung out before Kyle and I and Alicia and Peter opened our presents and gave our presents. The kids also opened their presents from their cousins, which was just about the cutest and funnest thing ever. After presents, Kyle and I got ready to go to Oregon. Kyle's brother Jordan met us in Centerville and the three of us headed to Idaho, our first stop on the journey. I was super freaked out about everything going horribly wrong on the icy roads. Combine that with leaving my family for Christmas for the first time ever and I was a ball of anxiety. My dad was nice enough to give Kyle and I blessings, which helped a lot. It was a little scary, but we made it to Kyle's aunt and uncle's in Burley okay. 

Early the next morning we headed out again for the rest of the drive. The most dangerous part of the drive to Oregon is through the Blues. Kyle was driving when we went through them and it was not as bad as we thought it was going to be (especially as his sister and her husband had spun out just a couple days earlier). About 3 hours outside of Sherwood one of our tires popped. The boys tried to change it themselves, but that didn't work so well, especially as it was SUPER windy! We ended up waiting about an hour for AAA to come and put on our donut. I am grateful nothing worse happened on either drive, but driving for 3 hours on a donut was not good for my anxiety either.

Once we finally made it to Sherwood, we ate delicious dinner (as always) and partook in the Dowdle tradition of decorating cake houses and trains. Not everyone was very in to it this year (we were super tired!) but Audrey took it very seriously and she had a blast.

The next day was full of prep for dinner and for Christmas. We drew names and went shopping for sibling gifts, in the rain, of course. We had a big dinner with all of Kyle's grandparents, plus his aunt, uncle, and cousins that live next door. The girls got to use finger puppets to act out the Christmas story and we all ate ourselves silly before watching a Christmas movie and heading to bed. We all also opened our pajamas. This year, Santa got everyone over the age of 7 matching pajamas. Kyle's dad was even a good sport and wore his with all of us. 

A couple weeks later, but Kyle and I in our PJs.

We opened presents Christmas morning and then just spent the rest of the day lounging around. Despite the fact that there were two little girls there, the best reaction to a present was Kyle's. His eyes got wide, mouth dropped open, and he immediately leaped to his feet to run to the bathroom to change into his newest presents.

We watched a couple of the Star Wars movies in preparation for seeing the new one together in a couple of days. 

We woke up early the next day to head into Seattle, Washington. Kyle's brother Jordan and his girlfriend Carly, who is from Seattle, had decided right before Christmas break to get married (a little dejvu from last year when Kyle and I did the exact same thing), so we went to Seattle so Jordan could be with her/meet her family/propose. 

Davis and Jensen sleeping in the back of our car.

We dropped him off and then went to explore Seattle. Not sure how, but I pretty much didn't take any pictures. Oh well. We went to Pike's Place, the gross gum wall, and the Space Needle before deciding to spend the rest of the day playing with the little girls at the Children's museum. Pretty sure the adults had more fun than the girls in some of the rooms.

Afterward we went to Carly's parents, where Jordan and Carly had just gotten engaged. We ate pizza, got acquainted, and started planning their wedding. Crazy stuff, people! 

The next day was the anniversary of the day Kyle's parents had their first kiss so after church Kyle's dad set up a something fun and special to celebrate. We spent most of the next few days just hanging out, eating, watching movies, and playing. We went to see the new Star Wars movie together, Kyle's mom and I went and got manicures and pedicures, I went to Zumba with her and the little girls, and the adults did a session in the temple.

New year's eve we went to the beach. While they are beautiful, Oregon beaches are also EXTREMELY cold, especially in the winter. Still, we had fun. We went on walks, fought with swords (that isn't what they are called, but that is what they are), built sand castles, ate, and flew a kite. I was freezing the whole time, but of course the little girls didn't seem to feel it and kept wanting to know why we weren't going in the water. 

After the beach we headed to dinner and then spent a quiet night at home while ringing in the new year.