NaBloPoMo

I was informed through this post that November is National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo, which is a month long writing exercise intended to occur annually in November that encourages bloggers to post every single day during the month. I know it's already the 4th, but I think that I'll just have to do my own little rendition of  NaBloPoMo. As I am studying for the CPA exam, I feel a little bad when I do anything besides studying, so I think I am going to just post 'more than normal' this year and then next year I'll take a stab at the whole every day thing. (And my test is next Saturday, so after that, hopefully I'll have a little more time!)

This past week, I have also discovered and joined the site Pinterest. It is described on the Pinterest site as "a virtual pinpoard -- a place where you can create collections of things you love and "follow" collections created by people with great taste. People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things -- wedding inspiration (wish I had this when I was planning!), favorite T-shirts, DJ equipment. You name it, people are pinning it." I'm not sure if there could have been a worse time for me to discover this site, as I should be spending ALL of my extra time studying, but I do find myself wandering there every once in a while. Trent even had to disconnect the internet to my computer so I would stay on task!

What I love most about the site so far is just the ability for me to remember all of the cute and awesome things I'm seeing that aren't necessarily things I can do or have right now, but they are things that I will potentially want to go back and find later on to incorporate into my life. On the site, there are 'boards' where you pin things to kind of categorize the items you are 'pinning'. You can keep the standard boards that they put on your profile when you start, or you can edit them and make them your own. As of right now, I have 10 boards:

• Crafts/DIY
• Dream Home
• Food
• The Fredericksen's
• Future Baby Fred (No, I'm not pregnant nor are we trying!!) Had to put a disclaimer so no one would get confused!
• Holidays!!
• Home/Decor
• My Style
• Photos
• Quotes/Sayings/Motivation

I love that I've been able to discover so much cute crafty/DIY stuff as well as Home/Decor things that I can't necessarily do now since I'm studying so much and because it wouldn't go with or fit in our apartment now, but when I get some free time or when we move, I will be able to go back and see all the things I've "liked" in the past and do those things then. I'm pretty excited about it :) I have also discovered a few other great blogs to follow through Pinterest. I'm excited to read their blogs and learn from their tutorials and blog styles.

If you'd like to check out Pinterest, you can go to the site and look around. If you want to start pinning, just email me or leave a comment and let me know and I'll send you an invite, as the site is 'invite only'. Here is A Beginner's Guide to Pinterest, a blog post that someone else put out there that will have some more explanatory information for you.

So back to this exam... I have 8 days left until I have to take it!!! AHHHH!!! I'm not ready yet, I don't think, but I guess I don't know if I'll ever be ready enough. A girl that I work with, Stephanie, is also working towards getting certified as a CPA, and took her first test on October 1st (she took the same test I will be taking next Saturday). She got her score back this morning on that test. You have to get at least a 75 on all the tests to pass and she got an 87!! I got a text from her this morning a little before 7 that said "87!! Holy Crap!!" That made me smile and I am so happy for her! It's also kind of a tiny weight lifted off my shoulder to know that she did so well because we are using the same study materials and kind of doing the same study routines, so at least I know the materials work and it's possible to pass!

Besides being National Blog Posting Month and No Shave November, November is also a month to be thankful for all of the wonderful blessings in our lives. On Facebook, a lot of people like to put something that they are thankful for as their status every day. I am going to do the same type of thing in my blog, but I'm going to do it like I am doing NaBloPoMo, I might have to play catch up every few days. Kind of like this:

1. I am thankful for my husband (and yes it's still a little strange to call him my husband). I am so thankful that God has placed him in my life and gave us both the strength to hang on to each other and realize that we were meant to spend our lives together. Even though I know I drive him nuts a lot, he is still so amazing to me and I don't know what I would do without him. (I know I would at least have to take the trash out then...) He is so supportive of me and has been very patient with me while I am studying which means that he has to do a lot of the cleaning and cooking (even though he does a lot of that anyway - what can I say? He's wonderful!). Trent is my best friend and I am so thankful that I get to walk through the rest of my life with him by my side.

2. I am thankful for my amazing parents. I am so blessed to have the most wonderful parents who would do absolutely anything for me! I have been so spoiled throughout my entire life and I am certain that I haven't thanked them enough for everything that they have done and sacrificed to give me and my siblings the greatest childhoods and futures! They also always been there to show me what love looks like through their own marriage and have always supported me in everything that I have done. I would not be who I am today without them!

3. I am also thankful for the rest of my family. I have the greatest siblings anyone could ask for, and even though we drive each other crazy sometimes, we're always there for each other and I love them so much. I am blessed to now have a new brother-in-law, who I love especially because he is so good to my sister. I am so lucky to be so close to all of my family members and have the best grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, great aunts and uncles, second and third cousins, cousins once, twice, and three times removed... You get the point! If I wasn't me, I'd be jealous of myself and my sweet family! :) Thanks for being so cool, everyone!

4. This year I have a new thing to be thankful for. I am thankful for my in-laws!! I am so blessed to have the greatest in-laws ever. Trent's parents are absolutely the best. From the very beginning, they have welcomed me into their family and I am so grateful to feel the genuine love and care that they have for me. I am also thankful for my new sister- and brother-in-law and my two beautiful nieces. I now have two amazing older sisters! And I couldn't be more proud to be 'Aunt Kendra' to the greatest little girls.

I think that catches me up for these past 4 days!  Trent and I are off to Ankeny after work and I'm going to the Ankeny Craft Show with the girls in the morning and then we're back home for the rest of the weekend and I'm going to study study study!!!! I hope you are all having a great start to your November and have a great weekend!


Chow! 

Mattie on our last trip to Ankeny.
By this point, she knows we're almost there!



Happy Halloween!

My Halloween Scare

Date: Friday, October 28, 2011
Time: Approximately 5:45 a.m.

I had finally gotten up the strength to pull myself out of bed for the day and I went and made my way to the bathroom, still half asleep. I finally opened my eyes all of the way and something happened to catch my eye on the floor by the corner next to the door... This is what I saw:

I was instantly paralyzed, scared out of my mind. I didn't want to make any sudden movements because I didn't want it to attack me or move before we could kill and and then I would always have the thought in the back of my mind that this thing was loose in our apartment. So after I figured out what I was going to do, I very carefully reached out and opened the door very slowly and then I slithered out of the bathroom, keeping as much distance as I could so it would stay right where it was. As soon as I got out of the bathroom, I did one of those freak out, "I just saw something really nasty" dances, and yelled out to Trent that there was the biggest, nastiest spider I'd ever seen in the bathroom and he HAD to get up and kill it. He whined a little and said he didn't want to get out of bed, but I insisted that he get it NOW. So then he got up and said he'd kill it but I couldn't watch, so I went and took Mattie outside and Trent came to my rescue and killed the big, bad spider. Needless to say, at that point, I was thoroughly traumatized and wide awake.

When I got back inside from letting Mattie out, I went on with my routine, and started getting some breakfast. I opened the cupboard and reached up to the top shelf to get some bowls. I put them on the counter, and then reached to the bottom shelf to grab two spoons. When I looked down to the bottom shelf, I jumped back a little because of this:

Again, for a moment, I was terrified because there was ANOTHER ONE! But then I got a closer look at it and I realized it was a plastic spider! I stormed into the bedroom and flipped on the light and told Trent how mean he was! He was just laying there with his head in his pillow chuckling away. I turned the light back off and went back to what I was doing. And then... it hit me... The one in the bathroom was fake too! (Yes, it took me that long to realize it!) So I stormed back in the bed room and flipped the light back on again and said, "The one in the bathroom was fake, too, wasn't it!?!" By this time, he was laughing even harder.  I am pretty sure that I went over to him and shook him a little and I think I may have told him that we were getting a divorce too, since he was so mean to me! ;) I haven't been that genuinely freaked out in a long while, I don't think.

At that point, I let him go back to sleep in peace. Although, that was a little more excitement than I needed to have that early in the morning, I can't tell you how happy I was to figure out that it was a fake spider. I would probably be checking every corner in the apartment for spiders if that one had been real, thinking that it had little babies running around or even brothers and sisters!

I guess that was an appropriate way to start off my Halloween weekend.

Hope you all had a good weekend and have a Happy Halloween!!

October 2011

It has been a busy 3 weeks! I can't believe how fast October is going.

It all started with Kellsey and Wade's wedding. It was an amazing day! It was great weather and the ceremony was beautiful with all of the green and trees around us. The ceremony was beautiful (I may have teared up a little) and the whole day was just so much fun! Not to mention that Kellsey was absolutely beautiful!!





The week after the wedding we started our quarter close at work, so that made for some busy days and late nights. I worked as long as I could on Saturday before I had to take off for Ames for another wedding. My cousin Tricia got married. It was another beautiful day and it was great to see all our family again.

Trent had taken the day off work on Friday to spend some extra time with his parents and then we both spent the evening after the wedding at their house. It was great to get to visit with them for a little on Saturday night. We then had to take off again early on Sunday morning to make it back for church in Westside. We were celebrating my Grandma and Grandpa Jons' 60th wedding anniversary! Sixty years seems like such a long time, and it is such a great thing to have gotten to spend 60 years of your life with someone you love. They are still very much in love and you can tell! It makes me so happy when Grandpa tells us how much he loves Grandma. They are such a great model of what love looks like for all of the newly married and 'oldly' married couples in our family. :)



I love this picture of Grandma and Grandpa at Kellsey's wedding.
They're so cute!



I also love this picture of my Grandma when she was younger.
She looks very beautiful!

 After church, the church members all celebrated with cake and then family members came for a lunch at the church before we headed back to Omaha.

The last week and a a half have then been busy with lots of work, buying a new car, and studying for the CPA exam (only 23 days left until my first test! EEE!). Our earnings release was today here at work and we file our 10Q tomorrow, so things will settle down here and I'll be able to study even more hopefully while also getting to spend some more time just relaxing!

This weekend we're headed to Webster City on Saturday to have lunch with Trent's Grandma. It will be very great to see her again! And then on Sunday we get to go to Taylor's Sunday School program. I can't wait to see that! It is going to be so cute!

Hope you're having a good week. Enjoy the weekend!

Couldn't have the blog post without a cute picture of Mattie!
She's so funny when she uses a pillow like a human!



One tired dog!

I'd say that Trent and I stayed up a little too late last night and I know Mattie would agree with me. Last night, I was immersed in making some photo books of wedding and honeymoon pictures and Trent was in his room playing a computer game and, before I knew it, Trent came up to me and asked if I knew that it was 2 in the morning!?! (I did know it was that time, but I was just having too much fun to go to sleep.)

Mattie likes to lounge around and take naps, but she really doesn't go to sleep until we do. And since we were around the apartment all day yesterday and were keeping her awake, she didn't have her hours to nap while we were away at work either, so I am sure she was very tired after such a long day yesterday.

That's why, I'm sure, she was very excited for us to finally get out of bed this morning so she could take over our bed and snuggle in, which is just what she did!

Mattie's thankful for a relaxing Sunday just as much as I am!

I even noticed that after she got up from her nap in the bed, there was a nice, big, wet slobber spot (right on Trent's side thankfully!) She just might have picked up that little slobbering trait from me over the past 4 months! Whoops! :)

Costa Rica Honeymoon

Last week, Trent and I spent a week in Costa Rica for our honeymoon. It was so great! All this week I have been thinking back on what I was doing last week at this time… Most likely, the answer is that we were laying next the pool or something great like that!

We arrived at our resort at Playa Conchal, Guanacaste, Costa Rica in the early afternoon on Saturday. When we got there we relaxed and checked things out and unpacked a little. That night we went to supper and then went to the show that they have each night. Saturday night was their show of songs from the 50s through the 90s. We arrived at around the 70s and were thoroughly entertained. It was pretty comical to watch actually because they were out there trying to lip sync to songs and a lot of times they didn’t have the words right, but it made me smile, so I guess that’s okay.

Sunday was just a day to hang out at the beach and the pool. Unfortunately when we got to the beach around 11 or so, it started to rain, so our beach time didn’t last that long that day. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool and even though it rained some in the afternoon (it rained every day we were there for at least a little while because it is the rainy season there), we took shelter in the little huts that they had next to the pool and watched the rain from inside of it while we read and took a little nap. It was perfect.

Monday and Tuesday were our excursion days. Monday we went to an adventure park where we ziplined over trees and valleys and went horseback riding and then we went to a place with hot springs and a natural pool and waterslide. Then, on Tuesday, we took a drive to see the Arenal Volcano, which is Costa Rica’s most active volcano. It was so cool to see and be right in front of the volcano. Although we didn’t get to see any lava flowing down it in the evening (there hasn’t been any activity for the past 6 months or so), it was still quite beautiful and I’m glad we got to see it. Needless to say, by the end of those two days, we were pretty worn out from all the driving (even though we were just passengers, they are quite aggressive drivers in Costa Rica and car rides are not any place where you can relax) and excitement.

 The last 3 full days of our trip were great. We were lucky enough to be able to just hang out at our resort and relax and do things there. We slept in some and hung out at the pool on Wednesday, Thursday morning we kayaked out to a little area a ways away from the beach by our resort and went scuba diving (neither Trent nor myself were quite prepared for how hard of work it was to kayak), and on Friday morning we rode bikes up to the highest point we could get to and looked out to the ocean and took some pictures. All that was enjoyed with all of the food and drinks we could handle, which made for 3 great days! When we were there, it was their non-busy season, so the resort was pretty empty. We weren’t sure if we liked it at first because there weren’t a ton of people around. In the end, though, we decided it was great. We got all of the attention and service from the workers and got everything that we needed or wanted without any problems. It really made for an amazing trip and honeymoon!

Trent and I had a great time and already found ourselves talking about our next trip that we are going to take. It’s hard not to when we were hanging out with other couples who were talking about all of the wonderful places they have been in the past, so we definitely got some great ideas! I can't wait until our next adventure together!!

If you'd like to see the rest of our honeymoon pictures, you can do so here. Enjoy!

Pre-Honeymoon!!

Only two more days until Trent and I get to go on our Honeymoon! At this moment, 48 hours from now, we should be at our resort and getting to see what we are going to be staying for the next week! I can’t wait!! We take off on Saturday morning at 6 a.m. for Costa Rica for a whole week.

We will be staying at The Westin Resort & Spa, Playa Conchal and I am SO excited! If it is even half as beautiful as the pictures make it look, I am going to be in heaven. As far as I remember, I haven’t been on a vacation that was 7 days long in my life. I think it will be a perfect mix of being able to lay around and relax and having little adventures and things we can check out while we are there.

We have two ‘excursions’ planned. On one, we will be going on a tour of the Arenal Volcano, which is Costa Rica’s most active volcano. We will leave around 8:30 in the morning and it is just a short 4 hour drive from our resort to the volcano. We are told it will be a 15 hour day from the time we leave until we get back, so it will be tiring, I’m sure. I’m not exactly sure what we will all experience while we are visiting the volcano, but it’s called the Arenal Volcano/Hot Springs tour, so I’m sure we’ll get to check out some Hot Springs as well J

The second excursion we have planned is to the Vida Adventura Nature Park. At this park, we will have the opportunity to go on a canopy tour, which will be zip lining over the tropical forest. I think this will be so cool (like something off of the Bachelor!). They also have mud baths, thermal waters, horseback riding, a waterslide, and trails. I think this will be a great day as well.

Other than those things that we have planned, we are just going to go for it and have a fun time doing whatever we want, experiencing Costa Rica. I am most excited about getting to spend 7 days alone with my husband and getting to experience this whole new thing with him. I can’t wait to come back and share all our experiences with everyone!



Conchal Beach (The beach that our resort is by)



The main pool at our resort. EEE!

Kellsey's Shower/Bachelorette Party!

Last weekend was a fun weekend that I spent in Sioux City celebrating Kellsey’s upcoming wedding.


I went up to Sioux City on Friday night to just hang out and prepare for Saturday and then on Saturday, we had a small bridal shower for Kellsey with some of her closest friends. After the shower, we all headed out and just spent the day doing things together that Kellsey loves. 
(Below are pictures from the day's events)

Working on making the scrapbook/guestbook for Kellsey
I think it turned out great!

Kellsey with the youngest member of the party, Jayli

Time to eat!

Notice the very yummy lemon strawberry truffle made by Nikki.
It was great!

Super cute mugs from Amanda!

Me with the Bride!

At the shower

When we left the shower, we went to get pedicures. 

Kellsey is pretty sensitive when it comes to her feet =)

Kellsey and I

Amanda, Nikki, and Jocelyn getting their pedicures

The girls with the bride!!

 After the pedicures, we headed out to do a little shopping. We picked up some of Kellsey's wedding things from the mall and went to David's Bridal to check out what they had for veils that she might like.

We had some bonding time in the dressing room, too.

We finished up the day by going out to eat and then crashing at the hotel for the night! 


It was so much fun having everyone have a little part in the planning of Kellsey’s wedding and have talk about girl stuff all day. Kellsey also tried on her wedding dress for us with all of her accessories, so we all got a sneak peak of how beautiful she will be on her wedding day! It made me even more excited for Kellsey and Wade’s big day that is coming up very quickly!

- I am happy to say that Kellsey is actually on her way to Omaha right now to spend the night here. How lucky am I?!?

Tomorrow, we're heading to Des Moines for the day. We are going to Jocelyn's White Coat Ceremony at Des Moines University in the morning, which is super cool. It's crazy to think that she's on her way to being a Physical Therapist! I'm sure it won't feel like very long at all until she's walking across a stage to graduate (it won't feel like long to the rest of us anyway).


I am also getting my hair permed tomorrow. I'm getting pretty nervous about that! Even though I have spent a lot of years with curly hair, I just hope that I'm going to like it! The end goal is to reduce the time I have to spend getting ready in the morning, so I hope it all goes well. Stay tuned for an update on that one!!


I am also happy to say that when I get home tomorrow night, Trent's family will be here. I am sad that I am going to miss being with them during the day on Saturday, but I am very happy that I'll get to come home to them all being here!


It's gonna be a very fun, but quick weekend. 
I hope you all have a great one, too!
Chow!