It's pretty much a record..

For the LONGEST time between posts. There honestly has been a lot going on, I am sure I could have posted here and there but I probably didn't because I was not feeling well or I was at work.
This has been my hardest semester so far- what a great way to end right? Now I am REALLY ready to be done with school.

For the first half of the semester I was working 15-25 hours a week at Papa Murphy's (my internship) and I was working 12 hours a week as a secretary/TA on campus. I know some people can handle around 30 hours of work while being a full time student but it was really hard for me. I felt like I worked hard all day got home around 9 or 10 and passed out from exhaustion.

In the middle of the semester I found out I was pregnant (which I am thrilled about) and that really wiped me out- I cut my work hours in half and spent all of my free time napping and trying to figure out what I was going to eat next. : )

That's my story.

An overview of the past..3 months??

Here is a picture of my at 13 weeks. I am at the awkward stage when most of my clothes don't fit and people are beginning to wonder if I am just fat or pregnant but they don't want to ask. I was pretty sure I was pregnant with the way I was feeling and my missed period but Dane didn't believe me, we finally got a pregnancy test (Dane picked the most expensive one because he wanted to be SURE). We left it in the bathroom and shut the door and waited in the living room for 3 minutes and then we both raced to the bathroom to see the results.

Positive. It was a fun moment. We hugged exclaimed how terrified and excited we were at the same time.

Every day I come home and lay down- it's so hard for me to get anything done because I have been sick and tired the whole time. This year we spent thanksgiving at My sister's house with her family, my parents, and my brother and his wife.

After dinner we played rock band wii- it was so fun.

The dinner was fabulous! Everything I hoped for.

The table:

My dad has been in school at BYU-Idaho and he is taking a semester off and truck driving. Unfortunately he didn't get in until 1 or 2 in the morning on Thanksgiving so he was exhausted- but we were so glad he made it!

I love these pictures of Dane with our nieces and nephew- Rachel, Ben, and Susannah. He is a kid magnet.

Before the semester started I decided to rearrange the living room. I felt so tough moving all the furniture by myself.
Before:

After:

In November my sisters, mom, and sister in law got together for our annual girls weekend shopping trip. We made bows in the hotel room: We ate fabulous food:

spent HOURS shopping, and went to the temple.

This is our baby's first outfit from Emily!

My friend Brittany and I threw a surprise birthday party for our friend Paige. It was a blast.
I made the cake. (I was pretty proud of it)In october Dane's sister Jenne came to visit with two of her friends from BYU. We really enjoyed having them.

Other news: The baby is due June 11

I was supposed to student teach in Utah but they changed it to local (which is a blessing) and I am still waiting for my specific placement.

Dane will be doing an internship in the winter.

We actually didn't get kicked out of our apartment but we will be moving as soon as we get into subsidized housing.

I am done with classes at BYU-Idaho next week, I am done working Dec 31, and I begin student teaching January 4.

I will try to make my next record the smallest break in between posts.

Yellowstone!

We went to yellowstone with some friends last month and I am FINALLY posting about it. We had a wonderful time.

One the way back we got to see old faithful
Dane and Trevor fished a TON

Dane said it was the best fishing trip he's been on.

We saw elk and buffalo

I caught my first fish- he's hard to see because he is probably about 2 inches long- but there is a fish, I swear.

I actually thought I just got some moss on the hook until I realized it was actually a fish.

I didn't catch anymore fish after that- even though I tried.

Emily and I sat by the river and read most of the time- it was a beautifuil day.

Dane caught a lot of fish.

After camping one night we were told we had to move- to make it easier we put the tent on top of the car and held onto it through the window.

And more fishing- isn't it beautiful?

Let's start from the beginning...

1. People keep telling me I need to update my blog- if you only knew how OVERWHELMING it is....especially when I haven't posted in what- 2 months?

When I was younger I remember writing in my journal for a week straight and then a month later I would write in it again. Just like my blog. I also remember thinking that I had to start from the very beginning so many of my journal entries begin, "I'm so sorry it's been so long" "I was born in..." (I often talked to my journal as if it was a person. Dane thinks its pretty funny.)

One of the reasons I haven't posted is because it's my SUMMER BREAK and I am not as productive as I would like to be. Another reason is because the month of JULY includes my birthday, Dane's birthday and our anniversary.

Here it goes- I am going to go through the past two months the best I can:

Dane bought a recurve bow on ebay-it broke in his archery class- he was refunded and found an even better bow at a yard sale for $10. He is in heaven.


I turned 22 on July 12 and kept the Gampe family tradition of putting the age on the pancake.
Dane turned 24 on July 14 - and his pancake didn't turn out as good.

Dane requested dirt cake on his birthday- which turned out fabulous (much better than the first time I made it with the butter chunks...good times, good times)

I requested a chocolate cake shaped like a "22" - Dane did a great job

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary July 27th and went to Applebees so we could get an appetizer for 1/2 price during happy hour- the total was $7.42 ( I love good deals)

The Hoover's invited us to go whitewater rafting in Boise on July 25th- It was SO MUCH FUN.

Back to July 4th- We went to Twin Falls to help babysit for my sister-in-law's sister's wedding. I think there were 20-30 kids total. We also got to play on an enormous slip n slide made of billboards. That weekend my new nephew Peter Daniel was blessed.

Here are our nieces and nephews on my side of the family- right after the blessing.

We also went to Shoshone falls with the Higbee's over the 4th.
The first week of August I helped my mom with a 4-H project camp. She taught sewing and cooking while I was at work and then I came and taught "Making the Most of Me". The girls got their hair done, a mary kay lady came to give them little makeovers, they had a photoshoot in the gardens and they made collages.

This is right after they got their hair done.
-A picture of all of them in the gardens.
The girls doing a disco dance.
After the week was over we went to pocatello to drop the girls off. We played at the park and got Papa Murphey's pizzas for half off- because I am an employee : )
Me and my sisters (plus Susannah)
More news-

• I got placed in Davis County Utah for my student teaching in the winter- we are just hoping Dane can find his internship there.
• I am currently working at the college as a secretary/teacher's assistant and I am doing my internship at Papa Murpheys.
• Dane is still working for the school as a construction intern.
• Someone bought the house we were managing and decided he wanted to do construction on it- so we are moving in with my parents next week.

Whew- I did it.

So much for small frequent.....

1. There's just too much going on for a small post.

2. This semester I am in a 5 credit preschool practicum class and it is INTENSE, but how can I resist these 20 cute little faces?

3. One lovely saturday morning Dane was on his way to St. Anthony to fish when a yard sale in front of walmart had him screeching to a stop. He got there just when a couple brought out this fabulous gun cabinet- The wife asked her husband, "How much should I sell it for?" he looked at it and replied, "5 bucks." Right after she put the sticker on it Dane put his hand on it and said, "I'll take it."
He told me later that you just don't think about it when it's a GUN CABINET that is only $5.

He LOVES it - he spent most of the day rearranging the guns and opening and closing the doors.

4. My mom got cast in the play SMASH on campus. We went and saw it Friday night and it was wonderful! She did an amazing job - doesn't she look fantastic?

5. Since my pictures are on the walls I finally decided to post some pics of our new apartment.
I've decided one of the best parts of this new apartment is the DISHWASHER- doing dishes has never felt so good. I still tend to wash the dishes before I put them in dishwasher and that can create a problem sometimes- including Dane eating off dirty dishesI really like the kitchen because it has a window in front of the sink and tile on the floor instead of carpet.

This is the living room- Can you find Dane in this picture?

6. I have been making bread lately- sometimes it's successful - sometimes it's not at all.

This is one of the more successful batches of bread (is it batches?)
7. Great news- We have been trying to sell our contract for our old apartment since May and it has been extremely stressful and expensive. We finally have a buyer! Hooray! I just hope and pray everything works out with it.

Any Ideas?

I have to write a research paper for my English class and I am STUMPED! At first I was thinking about the effects divorce has on children but it's kind of a common topic.

I want something ORIGINAL and INTERESTING.

Please share anything that comes to mind- I would be VERY grateful.

Popcorn and Cantaloupe

I think I am going to try more frequent short posts. I don't have as much of a desire to blog if I have a beast of a post.

So I go to class every morning at 7:45 am and I ALWAYS eat breakfast ( I really couldn't go without it-I love food). I have work until 12 so I usually take a snack like an apple and a sandwich to eat at 9 or 10 to hold me over until lunchtime (if I don't I get REALLY hungry)

Today I didn't have enough time to cut an apple (it has to be cut) and put peanut butter in a container (dip for the apple- also required) and throw together a sandwich. So I thought, I'll just take a bag of popcorn and pop it in the microwave at work.

At 10 am I ate the whole bag of popcorn - I offered some to Sister Cook (the teacher I work for) She said she preferred popcorn later in the day.

I was feeling a little sick so when I got home I cut a cantaloupe in half and ate it.


Still not feeling so hot - popcorn in the morning + cantaloupe = not a good combination.

Starts with a garbage can

1. I have a few great classic "Laurel" stories that have happened recently. It all starts with a garbage can....

Our bathroom is small. There really isn't much counter space for curling irons, make-up, toothbrushes, hairspray etc. So I store a lot of my stuff on the back of the toilet. This has created a lot of problems. I have dropped a few things in the toilet and in the trash can next to the toilet. One morning I was in a hurry - I had dropped something but I didn't remember where. The next morning I was missing my eyeliner. Dane had already taken out the trash to the garbage cans outside- and they were sitting on the street waiting to be emptied by the garbage man. I hurried outside and found the garbage sack for the bathroom and was able to find my eyeliner before the garbage man came. what a relief!

2. We have lived in our new apartment (pics are coming-I almost have all my pictures up) for a month now and I have already crawled through the bathroom window 3 times. I don't know why I am so big on locking the door.

This lovely window leads straight into the bathtub. It works best if I put my hands in my shoes and slide in feet first.

The first time I locked myself out was when we only had one house key. We were putting the key above the door and then one day I walked out after I locked the door and I couldn't remember where I put the key. I checked everywhere. Then I figured I left it in the apt. I started running around the house trying to break in before Dane got home.
Finally I got in through the bathroom window.

Turns out the key was not in the apt. It slipped through a crack above the door. I also lost another key in the crack trying to get the first key out.

Dane ended up getting them out with a paper clip.

By the way-that lovely BRIGHT pink paint is not only in the hallway that leads to our apt -its also in our bathroom. We also have a classic 70's green color in our bedroom.

3. Memorial Day Campout!

The talent show included: Ball Family Pyramid

1 minute headstand

Scene from the play "Smash" - and much more
and-The audience

Campfire