Shutterfly Cards!

When my fabulous friend Carlye told me about a promotion that Shutterfly was doing where you get 50 free christmas cards, just by blogging about it, I couldn't think of anything more simple, mostly because I love shutterfly to begin with! The web-site is uber user friendly and there are so many cute products to choose from. Last christmas I made both of sets of grandparents calendars, which you can learn about here that featured all of their grandchildren and they all loved them. I've also used Shutterfly in the past for christmas cards and have loved them too. So I'm more than happy to sing this company's praises especially when it means another chance to use their awesome product again! The only hard part will be trying to pick out just one design that I like...oh and licking all those envelopes! Happy Holidays!...oh and P.S. I need your address!

Bucket List

Last night I was laying around thinking that I ought to take a minute to write down my "bucket list". It isn't because I'm feeling like my time is any more limited, or because I'm "wishing for greener pastures", I'm just a firm believer that the first step to seeing dreams and goals realized is to write them down. So here it is.
Before I die (or get too old) I want to:
-visit a crayon factory.
-ride in a hot air balloon
- Attend all major sporting events: Super Bowl, World Series, NBA finals, World Cup, Olympic games (check), U.S. Open, Kentucky Derby, etc.
- When and if I get to attend the Kentucky Derby, I want to wear a gigantic hat.
- Eat at each of the Iron Chef's restaurants
-Be in the audience for an episode of Iron chef America (this, I hear, is not possible since only friends and family of the chef's are allowed in the audience, but nothing is EVER impossible, right?)
-Get a nursing degree
-Go to Greece
-Read the Old Testament
-Be completely debt free
-Take my parents on a trip
-Take Kimball's parents on a trip
-Own a scrapbook retreat business (with my dear friend Kathy!)
-Go on a mission with Kimball
-Raise successful well-rounded, kind, loving, humble, smart children

Some may happen, some may not, I hate to think it, but maybe none of them will happen, but even so its good to know I'll always have support from those that love me!

The public bidet'..

First of all...yes...we ARE alive out here. Second of all...rather than rehash the difficulties this new life has come with, I'd rather just keep the good memories, and this day was full of them. Kimball was off, the sun was out, and thanks to a good friend sharing this hidden "sprayground" gem with us we headed out to enjoy one of the final days of summer.

Hello pretty girl.

He looks so grown up in this picture...good thing he has that plug in his mouth to keep him young!

This little girl was Kimball's shadow during our entire visit, she was fascinated...



"It's like a huge, public, bidet'"~Kimball





This is the winner.

Ahhh, the days of summer....

Summer, West Virginia style.

This is what summer has looked like so far...Not the most exciting, but we're gettin' the hang of this new place.

We do a lot of sleeping and napping...whether or not its actually in our bed is apparently up for debate. Sleeping in a big boy bed is hard sometimes...

" Ummmm....Hello mini Kimball when did you shrink into this tiny person?"..oh wait it's just Aiden.

We've also done a LOT of this once we found the library and started their summer reading program.

FHE we set out pillows and blankets on the patio and had pizza and watched "The Prince of Egypt"

And we've done even more of this....Mya is doing flips from one pool to the next, always with her trusty "air suit" which she frequently comes to me and says "Mom I have a wedgie"...lovely.

We've gone to a few city events, farmer's markets, pick your own blueberries, annual weiner dog races (post to come dont you worry), taken in the beautiful country, gone on walking trails, gone to a few different parks, Kimball wants to go take a tour of the nuclear plant down the road.
All in all its pretty quiet, but we're together and that will always be our favorite place to be.

The Big Day

I know its a little overdue but here are pictures from our big day (which I shamelessly stole from other people because I was too frantic to take any good pictures..you know who you are, thanks!). Kimball's graduating class got a yearbook where each student had a dedicatory page which Kimball told me I could upload pictures to (which I did), he however didn't mention we could submit a little written sentiment to include, so I'll share it with the world through this forum at the very least.

My deareast Kimball, We have waited for this day for so long, and I couldn't be prouder of you. I'm so happy our children will have you to look up to as an example of someone who is hardworking, diligent, faithful, smart, and good. I'm confident these attributes will help you be a wonderful physician and surgeon. Thank you for putting us first. In the words of another kind of Doctor, "...And will you succeed? Yes! You will indeed! 98 and 3/4% guaranteed. You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! You're mountain is waiting. So..get on your way!". Love you. Holly

The After Party!

Once again we were overwhelmed by the love and support of our family and friends. We love you all and couldn't have done this without you. Starting out on this new adventure seems much easier knowing we have you guys in our corner. We'll always be grateful.

Our New Place

For those of you who are interested, a.k.a mom, I made a little virtual tour of our new little home. For a more professional virtual tour you can also visit here. We are settling in nicely, and taking advantage of everything this little community has to offer. Kimball's been hitting the gym, and played a couple game of pool with Kris, I've enjoyed the masseuse, and the private movie theater with Chanda, and the kids have loved the pool and playground. Mya and Aiden did WONDERFUL in their new primary classes and everyone was so warm and welcoming in our new ward. Next post is gonna be more graduation pics, so until then enjoy our own "virtual tour"!

Untitled from Holly Knackstedt on Vimeo.

p.s. Thank you carlye for the uploading advice...did you notice the subtle shout out to Tyler...

Introducing...

Dr. Kimball Scott Knackstedt.

Oh what a proud wife I am.

stay tuned...more to come!

Hopeful

Every so often you have a day where everything seems hopeful. Today was one of them. My mom surprised me with a little farewell party with my sisters and grandma which was catered by the always delicious Zupas (if you haven't been there I only have one thing to say to you....Why?). Everyone had to give me a piece of advice before they could eat. Everything was good, the food, the company, even the advice. Then my mom gave me this house warming gift, which I have been coveting for quite some time. Can you tell what it says? You can click on the photo to enlarge it. They are photos taken of things on the temple grounds that look like letters, I think its ingenius and beautiful. And it will go perfectly hung next to my portrait of the Mt. Timpanogos that my talented sister made for me.

After lunch we went and drove the 5k course my sisters and I are running for Race for the Cure, which was sponsored by my Grandmother a living, breathing,(allbeit boobless) survivor of breast cancer, we love her and we're gonna run our fannies off to help find a cure so EVERYONE can survive this awful disease.

Then in honor of Cinco de Mayo we had delicious fajitas, and tres leche cake. All in all I feel refreshed, recharged, and ready for whatever comes next!

Another year has gone by..

Another year has gone by for Kimball and I as a married couple...here are some of our stats:

Years married: 5

Number of moves: 6 (soon to be 7)

Number of Cars: 6....what the heck!

Number of Dogs: 2

Number of Children: 2

Number of lawnmowers: 2 (does anyone need one?)

Number of sewing machines: 2

Years in school: 4

Number of arguements: 422

Number of apologies: 844

Number of times I've thought to myself how blessed I am to be his wife: countless.

I will live my life as a mountaineer's wife.

This post is late in coming...for a couple of reasons. I've been in shock for awhile, and I've waited until I've allowed the idea to "simmer" and process. March 18th, at 11:00 am we received word that Kimball will be doing his General Surgery residency in Charleston, West Virginia. ....Ummm...I beg your pardon? ...Hold on let me go get a map....Yes that's right my friends, we are headed to Charleston, West Virginia, I'll wait for you to go and get a map........okay, as I was saying. The first question everyone asked me that day was "Are you happy about that?"....here is my answer.

.....Yes....We are ENORMOUSLY blessed by a loving and all-knowing Heavenly Father who has prepared a place for me and my little family in West Virginia. This answer was, and still is, a little difficult to say with meaning but I AM happy and I'm trying more and more everyday to put my trust in God. I'm scared that a culture shock may take place, I'm afraid to send my daughter to school in a place I know nothing about, I'm afraid because they don't have a pottery barn or a central market. We learned that there were 600 more general surgery applicants than there were last year, which means we are very blessed to have matched ANYWHERE, there are applicants out there just like Kimball who found out that day that they didn't get a spot...I can't imagine. The Lord would have me be humble.

Another thing making it a little difficult is my heart aches for Texas and the life we had there. Last weekend we were talking to some of our friends who were planning a trip to Texas about how much we loved it. We talked about the people, the low cost of living, the beautiful sunsets, and the fact that it's Texas...and then my friend said "Hey, in five years you could be saying these things about West Virginia..". It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I realized my home will always be wherever Kimball and my children are, and we can MAKE it so we can say these things about West Virginia.

With that being said, I'm excited, proud, and thrilled for my husband who has worked so diligently these last four years to get us to this point. We had a little celebration for him (pictured above) and we truly were overwhelmed by the love and support of our friends and family that came to wish us luck. I'm happy that he can be a surgeon, and I can be a mother, a spectacular dream realized for both of us. Not everyone gets to do what they love every day. Medical School is behind us, and we are on to another new and exciting chapter, and an opportunity to learn and grow. I'm so excited to see him walk across that stage, I know he'll make a wonderful physician. So if I ever tell you dear reader, that I'm scared or unhappy about this change please refer me back to this post, so that I can remember how lucky and blessed we are.

So it's Charleston, West Virginia or bust!!! You haven't seen anything like the Knackstedt's yet!!!