The Ostermillers

Update No. 1.....

2011-08-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Once again, we have waited entirely too long to post any sort of update. And there’s a lot to update! We won’t do it all today, since there is so much, so be sure to check back for our other updates! (And since we are woefully behind on any pictures, I’ll just post a few random ones today)

First of all, WE’RE PREGNANT! I think most of our friends and family already know that, but it’s still worth announcing on here, I think =)

Our “due date” is December 10^th, and so far things have been going well! I had some pretty bad morning sickness for a while. Luckily, I’m not one to throw up, so there wasn’t any of that, but those of you who have experienced morning sickness know how debilitating it is, even when you aren’t actually throwing up. It was pretty awful, but the worst is past now, and things are going great.

We ended up choosing to go to a birth center close by, in Rigby, and so far, it has been the best choice EVER. After our experience in the hospital with Noah and the C-section, I knew that I wanted to keep away from the hospital, if at all possible, and birth completely naturally, VBAC and no interventions. And the center has been amazing! Every time I’ve come away from an appointment there, I’ve been so incredibly happy and excited, and the midwives are so wonderful – I’d recommend it to anyone in a second.

I am about 21 weeks along, but we won’t know the gender for a while. Because I am doing a VBAC, the birth center does an ultrasound at 36 weeks, to check for breech positioning, where the placenta is attached, etc., so that we can know what’s going on to prepare for the VBAC. That being said, the standard 20-week ultrasound isn’t strictly necessary for any reason, so if we want to have an extra ultrasound earlier than 36 weeks, so that we can know the gender, we have to pay for it out of pocket. So, we’ll be doing this the old-fashioned way for a while, staying in the dark as to the gender. But still hoping for a girl =)

(While I do have some strong opinions about birth, I’m not going to get into them here, so if you’d like to hear more about what they are and why I’m choosing to birth this way, feel free to ask me elsewhere =))

Scott graduated in April (yippeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!) so this summer has been great, having him home all morning for the first time…..uh, ever….so we’ve been able to actually have some time together as a family. We’ve had a lot of trips to Utah and family vacations, and we’ll update on those later. There’s too much to talk about on one blog post.

One thing that we want to mention: please take a look at the ad, on the right of the page, for Vivint. and the facebook contest that they are holding. They have a contest among various charity organizations around the country. Each region is competing within itself for a $100, 000 prize (cash). The Utah Prader-Willi Syndrome Association is a branch of the national Prader-Willi Syndrome Association, and they have been soooooo wonderful accepting us and Noah, and helping us to get all the help and support we need (and will need). The UPWSA won last year – it’s all done by voting on facebook, each and every day. The money is used to help with research and the enable the members (us) to meet with the various specialists that we need to, who can be quite expensive, as well as other important things. Funds like this are pivotal if organizations like the UPWSA are going to achieve their goals of helping and suppor

ting their members. If you are on facebook, please add us as friends, take a look at how to vote, and please help us get the votes that we need to win this! We are so close, and voting ends August 27^th. Thank you soooooo much!!!!

Check back soon! We’ll keep posting more frequently for a while, since we have so much to catch up on – love you all!

Big News for Noah

2011-03-26T20:59:00.000-07:00

Prepare yourself, this is a long post…..

We know that it has been almost sinfully long since we’ve updated the blog. It’s really my fault, since I’m at home all day with Noah while Scott goes to school and works. But we’ve just been busy with a lot of things, that it kind of gets stuck at the bottom of our to-do list.

However, there have been some things going on with Noah that we feel need to be shared. I promise to put together an update on our entire family, soon, but this is more important.

As most of our family and friends know, we’ve had a lot of struggles with and concerns for Noah’s development, starting from birth. We struggled through a year and a half of not knowing or being taken seriously. Last November, I finally took some initiative and got in touch with the Infant Toddler Program (and it wasn’t easy, believe you me). It’s Idaho’s early intervention program. They have been simply wonderful – an answer to prayer. They came and did a full developmental assessment of him in November, and since then, things have been in full swing.

We have been working with a developmental specialist a few times a month, and she has helped us get in touch with a physical therapist that we’ve seen a few times. He will also soon be seeing an occupational therapist (other than the one at the hospital that we’ve been seeing since day 1) for an assessment of his oral motor skills, and hopefully, a speech therapist will be introduced soon, as well.

He’s been a part of the toddler-lab here at BYU-Idaho during this winter semester, which has been awesome. Not only do we get the break twice a week (a much-needed one), but he absolutely loves the interaction with the other toddlers, as there aren’t many kids his age in our ward or complex. They work closely with the Infant Toddler program, so they are great in helping him with his developmental delays, as well. And, we’re pretty sure that he will be able to participate again during this next spring semester.

Our service-coordinator helped us to arrange a couple different visits down at Primary Children’s Hospital in SLC to get some medical information flowing. First, we went to see an opthamologist for his crossed eyes. We took him to an optometrist here in Rexburg last year, and they put him in glasses, but there hadn’t been any improvements after six months. At Primary they got him the correct prescription, and it has worked wonders! Everyone at the toddler-lab immediately noticed huge differences in his focus and ability to participate. We still have a ways to go, but it has been great. We’ll be going down there again in May to check his progress.

Second, we went to see the pediatric neurologist at Primary. He was/is a wonderful doctor. That’s a rare occurrence, I’ve come to realize. He did an assessment of his developmental delays, and asked us a whole bunch of questions. Long story short, he asked us to have an MRI done, as well as two blood test for some more specific problems. The MRI is scheduled for May, after his opthomology appointment. The blood was taken about a week and half ago, and on Friday, we got the results.

Noah tested positive for Prader-Willi Syndrome (pronounced “praw-der willy”). Some of the people that we’ve talked to already knew what it was, but I had no idea what it was. It’s a rare genetic disorder that affects about 1 in 15,000 births, resulting from the deletion of certain genes from chromosome 15. There is a lot to it, and it’s a very life-altering syndrome, both for Noah and for us. The most severe problem is hyperphagia (compulsive hunger). The condition causes problems with the hypothalamus, where they cannot tell that they are full, and are obsessed with food and eating. It’s a serious cause of morbid childhood obesity. It’s not very commonly known within the medical field, as far as I can tell, which would explain why our doctors never thought to test for it, or took our concerns seriously. Reading about it is like reading about Noah – he has so many of the characteristics (for his age), it’s almost surreal how obvious it is. I asked our neurologist about the accuracy of the test, but he said that it’s at least 99% accurate. Sometimes they will do additional testing, but it’s usually not necessary – the symptoms speak for themselves and support the test result completely.

If you’d like to check out more about it, this is a really great site: http://www.pwsausa.org/ They have SO much information about it, in just the little that I’ve looked at so far. Go to the Be Informed tab, and check out the links at the bottom. There is a lot more to it that the very little that I have explained, especially when it comes to the future. Even the Wikipedia site is great, and gives a good rundown on the syndrome.

It looks like we have a very long road ahead. I don’t want to get too discouraged by it, because only time will tell how severely he will be affected, and we have been extremely blessed to be finding this out now, and not in two years, or ten. There is no cure, but there are interventions that can help us to keep it in check. The main one is administration of growth hormone, to help him gain muscle mass, which will help with his metabolism and his ability to grow (height). Otherwise, it will mostly be hard work on our part to condition ourselves in strict patterns of exercise, healthy eating, portion control, routines, etc., so that we are ready for his future problems with eating, which are almost guaranteed to come.

For now, things are going great. The hyperphagia hasn’t hit yet, so we have some time to research and prepare. It usually hits around 2-3 years old, from what we’ve read. He is still the most lovable, sweet, kind, and smiley little boy in the world. He is walking all over the place, close to running, signing a lot, and improving every day. If anything, Scott and I agree that our love for him has increased dramatically with this knowledge. We are so blessed to have been entrusted with his care, and while the road ahead will be a difficult one, it will also be a joyful one. We love you, Noah!

Quick Update From Scott

2010-10-27T19:54:00.001-07:00

In case you couldn't tell from the title, this is Scott writing this post.

Yes, I know it seems like I've fallen off the face of the earth since I haven't personally posted in forever, but I feel it's time for me to break my silence with a quick update like Jenn promised.

As she said, I'm still working full-time at Melaleuca, which has been the biggest blessing for us. My managers have allowed me to come and go whenever I can as long as I get the prescribed amount of work done that I need to. The nature of my job is such that there aren't really any specific hours that I HAVE to be there. In addition, my direct boss did the same thing I'm doing now about two years ago. He knows exactly what it's like, and has been so great working with me. I really appreciate it.

As far as school goes, the IBC (Integrated Business Core) is a program where we have a collection of four classes; Organizational Behavior, Essentials of Marketing, Corporate Finance, and Operations Management. Each class is interspersed throughout the week and they're very considerate of the workload that we each get. On the side of being in class, we're divided into companies of about 25 members and we run a business for about 10 weeks. We've just completed our 2nd week of operation and we've already paid off our loan. We're doing pretty good.

Our company is called "Custom Kicks." We work selling custom-fit orthotics for our customers. You can see our logo pictured here.

We also have a couple of ads on YouTube.

You can find them at this link and this link (scroll over the word "this" to find the link). Personally, I'm very proud of our product's creativity (nobody in IBC history has ever done something like this), and its marketability. Everybody can benefit from them. If any of you are in Rexburg and would like to get set up with some of our inserts, feel free to contact me.We're able to offer them at a MUCH lower price than you would pay at a podiatrist's office for the same product.

We also have a page on Facebook. Check us out there as well.

Life is hectic right now, but it just makes us appreciate the time that we have together even more. I don't foresee things getting any easier, either. I found out a couple days ago that I'll be graduating in April! Woo-hoo! Here's for long hauls to the end. At least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the mean time, we're surviving and loving life. We really are very blessed. We very much appreciate all the thoughts and prayers in our behalf to help us get through this stressful and crucial time in our lives. Thank you all. We love you.

First Post on New Blog!

2010-10-18T22:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I just posted for the first time on my cooking blog. I hope you like it and keep coming back. I'll probably just put a quick update on this blog once in a while, when I put a particularly good post up.

Keep coming back to it - I'm going to try to put up a variety of stuff. Thanks, guys!

New Blog to Follow!

2010-10-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So, I've been thinking about doing this for a loooong time, and the time has finally come.....

I have started a cooking blog! And by started, I mean just started. As in, I barely posted the first welcome post, and have yet to add anything that is actually about food. But I'm really hoping that I can be posting on a regular basis. I've been excited about doing this for a while, and I don't want to lose my steam before I can even get started.

I want to use this as an incentive to learn to cook more exciting things for Scott, to find more healthful recipes for me, and to keep learning and sharing what I know about cooking. I don't get many opportunities to share my love of cooking with anyone other than Scott, and I'm so excited! We added a link on the side of our blog. It's called Just Lickin' My Fingers, and I really hope you all take the time to visit it. Maybe on a regular basis.....=) Please support me! Love you all!
-Jennie

Fall Fun

2010-10-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

Things have been a little quiet on the blog, so I thought I'd just make a quick update, to let you all know what we are up to!

Scott is still working full-time at Melaleuca. He LOVES his job, and his superiors really like what he's been doing in his position. They have been so understanding this semester of his responsibilities at school, and it's made our life much much easier. He basically needs to work 40 hours a week, but is allowed to break it up in to sections each day and change it up every week, if he needs to. We have to do that because....

Scott is also doing IBC this semester! For those of you who don't know, IBC is the Integrated Business Core. It is a program that combines four essential business classes together into one block everyday. The students are separated into companies, and within those companies they actually create and run a small campus-based business. I'll let him get on later and post more about that once it's in full swing.

Everyone warned us with doomsday prophecies about working full-time and doing the IBC program (12 credits, full-time) at the same time, but so far, we've been able to make it work fairly well. In fact, very well, as far as I can tell. Scott has been able to stay on top of his schoolwork and participate in everything he needs to, without cutting back at work. We've been very blessed.

The hardest thing for us is that we don't get a lot of time together as a family, and Noah starts to miss his daddy. But we try to make the most of every hour that he is here, and while it's hard, we're making it work. We can do anything for a semester, right? =)

Since I graduated in July, I am just a boring, stick-in-the-mud, stay-at-home mom right now. It's been great, I'm just still trying to adjust to having a lot of time and not much to do. Although, it's been wonderful to have the time to read, cook, bake, and play without feeling guilty about not practicing. I've been able to have a lot more fun with cooking and baking, and I really hope I can start up a food blog soon. Otherwise, my main job this semester is to make sure that Scott has the computer when he needs it, a ride when he needs it, a meal when he needs it, and a kick in the butt when he needs it =) Some days are worse than others, but for the most part I've been doing just fine. We'll see what happens when the snow comes...=(

Noah is, as always, perfect =) He's not walking or talking, yet, and while he is always happy as a clam, we're starting to worry a bit about is development levels. We are noticing that he seems to be falling further and further behind other kids his age (to make a long story short). We had a doctor's appointment last Thursday, and we are getting him back into physical therapy and in touch with the Infant Toddler Program (Idaho's early intervention program). We just want to get some evaluations done and be more proactive about his progress and development. Although, he had his first day in nursery today at church, and the leaders said that he was having a great time. At first, he just watched the other kids (of course) but after a bit was crawling after them and playing with them as best as he could. He definitely can't do what all the others can, but it was really great to hear that he did just fine and wasn't falling too far behind. We'll see what the other sundays bring.

Otherwise, he is wonderful. I love being around this kid all day! Well, except on the days that he won't take a nap. Any suggestions on switching a kid from two naps a day to one nap? He is just a monster about taking that one nap, when he used to take two naps just great.

Well, that's us this semester! So far, so good, just taking it one day at a time. We did get some family pictures done last month. They are WONDERFUL, and as soon as we pick our favorites (somehow...) we'll post a bunch of them. We love you all!

Jennie, Scott, and Noah =)

Summer Adventures

2010-09-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

So.....summer is over =( This week is still pretty nice, but I have a strong feeling that Rexburg is barely holding on to summer. Our summer seems like it only just started. We only had the seven week break in which to do anything fun, so we tried to plan as much as we could. First on the list: Mesa Falls! We just planned a morning trip, since Scott couldn't get off of work. We left around seven a.m. and planned to take as much time as we could there. We started off with the boardwalk.
We found that there was a small trail that started from the lower parking lot and led to the lower falls. It was only about a mile each way, so we decided to do it. It was a perfect little hike for that morning. Especially because it allowed Noah a little nap =)

After Mesa Falls, we decided that we had time to make a quick detour up to Big Springs. Nothing special, especially since it was a little cloudy and cold, but it's always worth a look.

We also decided that the perfect end to that trip was a quick trip to Big Judd's. We didn't take pictures - use your imagination =)

Second trip of the summer: Jenny Lake! I think this is one of my absolutely favorite places to go. Scott was able to get the whole day off, so we made a day of it. It's only about two hours away, so we left around 10 am, giving Noah the chance to nap in the car. Here are the Teton's on the way to Jenny Lake after going through Jackson.

The hike to the ferry on the other side of the lake is about 2 1/2 miles, and just gorgeous. It's really hard to capture how beautiful it is on camera, especially without posting about twenty pictures, but we posted a few good ones.

Sorry, but I just love flowers =)

This is the waterfall that is on the way to the ferry. We were thinking about continuing the hike up to Inspiration Point, but we wanted to make the hike back, instead of taking the ferry, so we just rested for a bit, and then turned around.

The hike back seemed to be a lot shorter, and a lot easier. What's so great about it, too, is that everything looks different from the opposite perspective, so you can enjoy a basically brand new hike. It really was so much fun.

As is predictable, we soon had a sleeping Noah, despite his head bobbing along, and whacking his nose on Scott's back every once in a while. I swear, he could sleep through a thunderstorm in this thing. We borrowed it from Scott's parents since the one that we had ordered hadn't come yet. It was a little hard on Scott's back, but it served it's purpose. Of course, ours came the very next day. Of course.

On the way out of Jenny Lake.

Good-bye Grand Teton National Park! Until next year!

And, because we couldn't resist, we ended the day at Bubba's Bar-B-Que in Jackson Hole before we drove home. We've been here a few times on previous trips, and it's probably the best bbq that we've had. It's quite possible that it was the best part of the trip =)

And so ended our summer adventures =( We've got a lot planned for next summer. Hopefully Scott won't have to be in school, and we'll be able to spend more time as a family making more great memories. Good-bye summertime!

First Haircut

2010-08-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally got around to giving Noah his first haircut. It's been looooong overdue. As you can see, he had quite the little rattail growing back there. It was actually pretty adorable at times, because it would curl into perfect little ringlets, but most of the time, he looked....well, we just desperately needed to cut his hair.

He was very happy at first, but as soon as we came near him with the clippers, he started freaking out. Understandably. But we got some good clips that we stowed away in a plastic bag for memory.

He wouldn't hold still for the camera later that day, but I got at least a couple of shots of his hair. He looks so grown up!

He also bruised his chin a few days earlier, so with the new haircut, and a black and blue bruise that looked just like a goatee, I could have sworn he was a teenager =)

Gotta love Noah smiles!

Graduation and Family Vacation!

2010-08-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

We had quite the week and a half at the end of July. First: GRADUATION! (Jennie's, that is)

Scott had a really hard time getting the camera to work, and we either had really blurry pictures, or really unflattering pictures. I prefer the blurry.

My parents drove out from Wisconsin, so we went to St. Anthony on Pioneer Day to spend it with Scott's grandparents (no one in Wisconsin really knows what Pioneer Day is), watching the parade and pot-lucking.

Then, my senior recital! I have yet to go get the DVD of it from the music office, but as soon as I do, I will post more pictures, and hopefully a video of the recital. But for now, it was awesome! It feels SO good to be done and to know what I've accomplished! I love the violin!

THEN, we headed down to Utah the next day (at 5 am) to go to a Gergetz Family Reunion (Jennie's family). We stayed at Castle Valley Outdoors and had a great time, especially on the hikes. We haven't had many chances to do that kind of thing yet this summer, and it felt really good to get out. Our first one was to the San Rafael Swell.

It was raining that day, so we bundled up, but it was even more fun because of it .

Aren't they the cutest? =)

It really was so amazing. I wish we lived closer to these kinds of hikes. No, I wish we didn't have to work or go to school and could just travel all the time to do this kind of thing.

Noah fell asleep for the last twenty minutes of the hike - so funny! He just bobbed along and snoozed =)

Next hike to the petroglyphs! Yay sunglasses!

I wish we would have gotten a better picture of the petroglyphs. I'm also not exactly sure what they were called or where they were. Sorry! There are a lot of them in Utah...

And finally, home! It felt good to get back home and back to a normal routine after seven or eight days of chaos. We'll miss my parents (until next summer!), but it's always nice to get back to normal family life. Especially since school is out! We're going to try to spend our time off of school having fun and getting home stuff done. Hopefully we'll have some fun things to report soon =)

Field Trip and A Make-Over

2010-06-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

It was Melaleuca Day at Tautphaus Park in Idaho Falls this past Saturday. It's the local zoo, and while it's nothing amazing, it was a fun day. All Melaleuca employees and their families got in free, so we thought it would be fun to take Noah. He didn't understand a whole lot of it, and the animals weren't very active since it was the hottest part of the day, but we had fun, and he enjoyed being in a new and different place. We'll definitely go again.

On a totally different note, Noah got a make-over! Here's the before shot......

And here's the after shot!

Noah got glasses! He's done really well with them, so far. Mostly, he just gets annoyed when he can't rub his eyes, but it's really funny to watch him getting used to them.

His right eye is crossed, but before they do any surgery to correct it, the doctor wants to try glasses for a couple of months. Occasionally it can correct it enough that surgery isn't needed. It's not a lazy eye, so hopefully, even if we do have to have the surgery, he won't need glasses afterwards. Thanks mom, for the bad eyes! =)

p.s. Sorry they are a little blurry! We have to re-size them so that they will upload. Seriously, blogger is a pain!

More Pictures

2010-05-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

We got Noah's portrait taken a few weeks ago, and we thought we would share some of the results. We got an amazing deal, and a whole lot of Noah smiles. Yay for being one!

Also, Noah has FINALLY started crawling! We've been waiting and working with him for months, but this kid just had no desire to crawl, then TA DA! Crawling!

Everyone says that we'll regret being so eager for him to be mobile, but not me. He's been so frustrated for so long, and it's been so hard to have a cranky kid each day, that I'm so happy that he is finally able to get where he wants. He's also figured out how to pull himself up on just about anything. Of course now he's bonking his head on the floor every five minutes, but hey, live and learn, right? =)

Also, does anyone else have the hardest time getting the pictures and the words to line up right on these stupid posts? The post looks nothing like it does when I'm trying to create it. Stupid blogspot.....

Happy One Year, Noah!

2010-04-07T20:22:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Don't worry, we didn't forget about Noah's birthday. We've just been busy since that weekend, plus, I've had some trouble uploading the pictures. So here they are! Here is the day our little angel turned one! (Well, the day after, but don't tell him that =])

We were able to have quite a few people there, too. Scott's parents came from Utah, plus Craig and Corinne and Greg. Grandma Ostermiller and Grandma and Grandpa Orme came, too.

He did pretty well, tearing paper and pulling ribbons off, but we had to help him a little bit. Noah got some fun toys from mom and dad, some summer clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Ostermiller, and some rocking sunglasses from Uncle Greg

I made a monkey cake for his party. The practice attempt the week before wasn't quite so good, but the second one worked like a charm that morning. Turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. It was just a cake mix, and frosting from a can, but it got demolished anyways, so it worked out great.

We wanted to keep with tradition and let Noah loose on his cake, but he didn't care for that plan too much. We stripped him down, and set him on the table (plastic tablecloth) with Scott standing behind him. He didn't really want to touch the cake at all, and when we finally put his hand in the frosting, he made quite the face. Until he tasted it, of course =) But overall, he didn't really like being covered in cake. We ended up sticking his feet in it, and putting him on his hands and knees in it, just for the fun of it, but he didn't like it too much. He did enjoy getting daddy on the face with frosting, though. The bath afterwards sure was a messy one, but overall the party went great!

We were able to go up to Grandma Ostermiller's that night and the next day, for the rest of General Conference. So we had quite the full little apartment, but it worked out really great. It was a great weekend, and we really enjoyed celebrating Noah's first. That first year went so fast, it scares me to think how fast the rest of the years will go! Happy Birthday Noah! We love you!

Boring =(

2010-03-17T14:45:00.001-07:00

Okay, well, there isn't anything real exciting or new to say, but I did make a promise. Unless I remember to update as often as I can, I won't remember to update when there is something worth posting. So, forgive our boring lives and boring blog. We're doing well, but ready for summer =)

Gotta live up to my promise...

2010-03-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! I know it's been more than a week, but at least I'm here. There isn't much new going on. School and life is progressing in the much the same way as usual. Noah still won't get up the guts to crawl, but I guess we have to enjoy the time that he isn't mobile as long as we can. As for Scott and I, he's busy with work, and I am crazy busy every day. We'll update when there's more to tell. Bye!

Is Spring Here Yet???

2010-02-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! We are officially horrible bloggers. I am going to make a goal to update the blog at least once a week. Cross my heart.

Well, Scott and I survived last semester by the skin of our teeth, and we are SO happy to have started this new semester. We spent Christmas Break in Wisconsin with my family. It was wonderful to be home again after a year and a half. Scott is actually deferring this semester so that I can finish up, and he will start classes again in the summer, while I take one final class online. And then....I'M DONE!!! Finally, after eleven semesters......=)

I am concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra this semester, and we had our first concerts last week. It was SO much fun! I love being in the Symphony (and being in charge, haha), and I really want to give this last semester all that I have. I'm also taking a cooking class that has been a lot of fun, as well as FA 100 and one last religion class. So far, so good. I'm also trying to prepare for a senior recital this summer, but I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to practice....maybe if Spring would just come already....

Scott has loved having more time at home with Noah. He stays home in the morning while I am at class, and then goes to work in the afternoon. Since our schedules are so much more forgiving, he's been putting in a lot of extra time at work, and recently was promoted to a brand-new position. It's a little confusing to explain, but basically, they took the duties of four or five old positions and put them together into a whole new job. So far, he's loved what he's been doing - much more than just answering the phones. Hopefully the managers will love what he's doing as well, and decide to keep the job around. I'm so proud of him! He really has put so much effort into this. I love you, honey!

Noah is, of course, wonderful =) He wants to crawl - badly - but cannot figure out how to move. He just gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth until he falls down. He's also started to be much more opinionated about things, and has become whiny. Still doesn't really cry, but who's complaining? =) Also, when Noah learns a new thing, he does it all the time. For a while, he was making all sorts of weird noises with his mouth, and that was all we could get out of him. Now, he's learned how to shake his head back and forth, and he does it ALL the time, with his eyes open, and a silly grin on his face. Thankfully, I don't think he understands what it means, yet, but man, is it funny to watch. We love him so much! Every day, we can't believe how lucky we are to have such a perfectly cute baby boy. He's growing up too fast!!!

That's the update for the last few months. We also got family pictures done in the beginning of December. The pictures on this post are just a few of them. Again, how cute is our little boy =) Our photographer was Stephanie Patterson. If you like what you see, check out the link on the right side of our blog. There should be a link to her website on her blog, as well. Well, here's to more happy blogging - see you in a week!

Wow, it's been a while...

2009-11-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

After several requests, I've decided it's finally time to update our blog after a 5-month hiatus. We apologize we haven't been more up on things, but this semester has been really insane.

So......where to begin?

The summer went very quickly for us, as I'm sure it does for just about anybody. There was nowhere near enough time for us to play like we wanted to. Just not enough hours in the day, I guess.

I've continued to work at Melaleuca and have now been promoted to Team Lead (assist ant to the supervisor). It's a big step up that I've been waiting for a long time to get. The work load isn't any less, but it's at least different.

Jennie has continued to be a great mommy and loves all the time she can get with Noah. We've truly been blessed to have such a patient baby on our first try. The Lord certainly knew what we needed to get us through.

With this fall semester, we thought we should be able to arrange our schedules so that one of us could always be with the baby while the other was in class. Since Jennie's classes are only available on campus, I opted to take some online courses so I can be at home more often to help with Noah. We started out the semester with Jennie taking 9 credits (including being assistant concert master in the Symphony Orchestra), and me taking 14 (9 of which are online). Little did we know that was just going to be too much. We both ended up dropping one class to lighten the load and we're still busy out our ears. But having plenty to do is better than having nothing to do, right? .........

Noah continues to get stronger every day. He loves his solids, and loves to make a mess of it, too. Since he's started to really go to town on solids, he's making a lot quicker progress. He had a little bit of a late start due to his slightly premature birth (the doctors say he was probably at least two weeks early). He's now a happy, loving, smiling 7 month old who's rolling all over the place and will, hopefully, soon be crawling. Noah's also discovered that the world is a lot more interesting when you can move around to enjoy it. Since he's figured out that he can mobilize, he just doesn't stop.

Jennie had the Halloween concert all last week (which was a big success - Superheroes!), so we didn't have a chance to really take Noah anywhere for Halloween, but we still wanted him to have a costume. We decided to save money and make one, so here's our adorable little solar system!

Things are chaotic, but as there isn't really an end in sight, we're just taking one day at a time, helping each other along, and loving Noah more and more each day. Life is busy, but it sure is sweet!

Two Month Pictures!

2009-06-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It's been quite a while since we've updated the blog, and since I finally know
how to do it, here goes!

Noah is doing wonderfully. He's turning into quite the little chunk (compared to what he was before) and is getting bigger every day! At his two-month visit on Tuesday, he was 10 lbs 10 oz. He's a very mellow kid - never really cries for anything, and is very patient with our poking and prodding =) We've had to wake him up at night, and watch the clock during the day, in order to feed him since he wouldn't cry for us. But he's finally starting to let us know when he is upset or hungry.

For anyone who's interested (hope I'm not crossing any boundries here), Noah has been taking a bottle, but luckily, I've been able to pump enough breast-milk that we've only had to supplement with formula a bit. We tried breast-feeding, but Noah doesn't really have the strong sucking muscles needed to breast-feed. We've also been taking him to a physical therapist to help strengthen those muscles, and while it's helped him with the bottle (he had a lot of problems in the beginning), breast-feeding just hasn't worked out for us. But, the important part is that he's getting what he needs and is getting good and fat =)

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had his first pictures taken, and they are adorable! We have the cutest baby in the world! Of course, we aren't biased at all =) He's starting to smile here and there, but we couldn't really coax one out of him that day.

Otherwise, life is pretty basic right now. Scott is still working at Melaleuca, and niether of us are in school right now, so we have a lot of time on our hands to love our perfect little boy. Summertime is the best, and we are excited for what it will be bringing!

Welcome Noah George Ostermiller

2009-04-07T10:51:00.001-07:00

After a completely insane week, Jennie and I are ecstatic to introduce to the world our newborn son, Noah George Ostermiller.

I'll explain everything that went down.

My grandfather, George Ostermiller, was admitted to the hospital on Sunday night with some fever and aches that he'd had all week. By Monday afternoon, he'd been diagnosed with Leukemia that should be treatable by medication. By Tuesday morning, the condition was labeled as acute progressive Leukemia that would take his life. At 3:15 am Thursday he was gone. I was able to enjoy a few tender moments with him on Wednesday night before he passed.

Wednesday, April 1, was our due date. I skipped a couple of my classes in order to go to our final doctor's appointment with my wife. During the appointment, the doctor told us that something just didn't feel quite right. So, we went in to do a sonogram and found out that Noah was breech. Not only was he breech, he was completely sideways in the womb. Instead of trying to do aversion, where they re-position the baby inside the womb, we decided to do a C-section the next day.

Jennie was happy because she would be able to play her concert that night and not have to worry about the baby. I spent some time at the hospital with my family for my grandpa.

The next morning, we woke up at 4:30 to get ready to be at the hospital at 5:30. When we got there, we prepped for surgery and entered the OR at about 7:40. At 7:54, Noah was born. He weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.

After spending the day with us and being visited by family and friends alike, our little guy was taken away from us by the on-call pediatrician to be taken down to the Special Care Nursery. He apparently wasn't eating well (which was amazing to me that they would think that), and they were concerned about his ability to gain weight.

I was furious. Both of us needed our baby to be there with us. Jennie didn't get to see him for nearly a full day because she was stuck in our suite on the other end of the hospital.

At any rate, we got Noah back after he proved that he could eat well enough. But there was a constant fear that they would come back and take him away again at the first sign of trouble. Needless to say, we were both a bit anxious about it.

Originally, we'd planned on naming him Noah Scott. But as soon as he was born, I knew what his name was. Given the date he was born and everything that we'd been through as a family, I knew his name was going to be Noah George Ostermiller.

Another reason we decided on the name was the message that he sent us soon after he was born. My grandfather had a certain mannerism about him where his lower lip was always out just a bit more than his upper lip. I'm certain that on the other side, Grandpa held our little boy and taught him a few things, including this thing with his lip. He hasn't really done it since, but it spoke to our Ostermiller side of the family as a sign from Grandpa saying that he was alright.

So close yet so far......

2009-03-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been relatively uneventful, but we do have some things to report.

We're currently two weeks away from having a baby, but I (Scott) think it will probably be sooner than that. Jennie's having the normal pains and stuff, and there's no real reason why I should think that way, but I do.

Anyway, two weekends ago, we made a mad-dash trip down to Utah for the weekend for a baby shower for Jennie. My amazing sisters planned it and we (they) had a great time. (I was up on the mountain blowing stuff up with my brothers.)

Sorry the picture's kind of blurry. This was a great fleece blanket that my aunt Janice and her daughters put together for Jennie.

We pretty much made a haul at the baby shower ;). Lots of stuff. We got plenty of clothes (at least a start). My parents were kind enough to buy us a wooden rocking chair for the baby's room.

We certainly enjoyed seeing family one last time before we can't really travel anymore. We even got to meet my little sister's boyfriend, who was a really great guy. I don't think I'll have to beat this one up. ;)

This past weekend, Jennie's visiting teachers held a baby shower for her as well. (That's right. We got TWO baby showers.) The main thing we got from it was diapers. But we'll be needing plenty of those over the next 2-3 years.

Jennie's looking great. She's certainly turning into quite the cute little mommy. We're both so eager for this little guy to get here, but we're certainly also enjoying the time we have left together. It could be any day now, so we're taking all the time we can get. We're in for the ride of our lives, and we know it.

Love to everybody!

Wow...What a life!

2009-02-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody. It's been over a month since I've updated this blog and I'm shame-faced. But, we have had a lot of great things happening for us over the last few weeks or so.

Jennie and I are both very busy with school. Well,....I am, at least. Jennie's been taking some classes toward her Home and Family cluster that haven't really required a lot of her time. But she's got a great seat in the Orchestra this semester and she's positively loving it.

I've been keeping very busy between work, school, and home life. I'm still working at Melaleuca, and I love my job. It's great to work in a place where I can actually help people every day. I'm also LOVING classes this semester. So far it's nothing too intense, but that could easily change. I'm taking a Racquetball class to help keep me healthy (and a little less stressed out). I'm also taking Microeconomics, which, so far, has been almost the same as Macroeconomics, so I haven't had a lot to do as of yet. Music 101 is a great class I'm taking with Sister Mecham. It's kind of an easy class for me but I need one or two of those. The class that's keeping me the most busy, though is Accounting 201. I'm learning the principles of accrual accounting, and I'm actually really enjoying it. If only I could keep up a little more easily with my homework. Most of the time, the assignments we're given require at least 2-3 hours to get done. When I'm going to school full time and working 30 hours a week, that's a bit much to squeeze in.

My Tuesdays and Thursdays are a little less pressed with my World Religions class and Chinese 302. I'm loving WR. It's a great class and really interesting to take a step back from my ordinary views on what religion is and get a much more broad perspective as to what other people in the world believe. It's just a great reminder to me that we're all God's children and He loves us equally no matter how we worship Him.

Chinese is a great class, but also heavy on the homework. And, since I want to make it part of my profession, I really need to pay more attention to it. We're studying Chinese out of newspapers. So, the class is very reading-intensive. (I read in English comparitively slowly. Just imagine how I do in Chinese.) My teacher, Sister Shen, is really helpful and I can tell she loves being a teacher.

Also, as of right now, I'm kind of shopping around for graduate schools. I want to go for an MBA in Marketing with a focus on International Business. Any ideas? I'm thinking of Utah State, but I don't know how strong the program is there. I'd like to get in somewhere a bit more prestigious.

As far as we can tell, the baby is doing well. We're two months away from our due date and we're "uber"-excited. I just don't know how we're going to get everything done that we need to in less than two months. It's really getting to be crunch-time.

Anyway, I hope everybody's doing well. Life is what you make of it. I don't know about all of you, but I'm going to make mine remarkable.

1 Year and Counting

2008-12-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

Jennie and I are ecstatic to announce our first wedding anniversary. It's been the best 366 (leap year) days of my life. I didn't know that my love for her could actually grow. Since our anniversary was actually on Sunday, we went out last night for dinner and a walk in town. We went to Romano's Macaroni Grill and had a great meal, then went to see the lights on Temple Square.

In general, we just enjoyed the time together and away from home. Sunday was our actual anniversary so we had the chance to relax and be with my family.

I hadn't realized it, but my parents also hung onto the top of our wedding cake. So, we took it out of the freezer last night and let it thaw so we could eat some on our anniversary. Surprisingly, it was really good. It tasted, I think, just as good as it did on our wedding day.

Your Mom Goes to College!!! ...Yeah. So?

2008-12-14T15:23:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Jennie and I had the privilege of driving down to Utah for my Mom's college graduation. That's right. My MOM just graduated from College this week with a 3.99 GPA. That's Summa Cum Laude. That's awesome! She went back to school while I was on my mission to get her teaching degree. She'd been a substitute teacher for several years before that, and just caught on fire. She's spent the next few years in school and now has her Bachelor's of Science in Elementary Education. Congratulations, Mom!!!!

We really enjoyed our time down there. We got to see some family that we never get to see. My brother Chad flew in from Texas for the occasion. His wife Erika couldn't make it because she's in community theater production of Cinderella. But they will both be coming for Christmas. We always enjoy getting together with all of my family.

This was the first time we've been home while Jennie's been significantly pregnant and it was a great trip. The ride back was one to remember, though. With ideal weather conditions, a drive from Fruit Heights to Rexburg, or vice-versa, usually takes about 3 hours. We left home about 7:30 pm, having originally given up hopes of getting home for Sunday because of a few snow storms. But, Jennie was supposed to be playing Violin for a piece in the ward Christmas program, and I was supposed to accompany her. We had to make the drive.

Driving from Utah up until about 20 miles into Idaho was a dream. Nothing at all, except a little fog going over Malad Summit. After that, though we got hit with several snow storms that made us slow down to about 45 mph, and we didn't dare take it any faster. It was slow going for a long time, and we didn't get home until about midnight.

But, overall, it was a good weekend. We can't wait until we go home next weekend and get to stay until the 29th! That's well over a week off work. Yippeee!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-12-01T05:29:00.000-08:00

Well, much to our dismay, our Thanksgiving break is over. December is here. That means Christmas time! Thankfully, though, it's only another two crazy weeks and the semester is over. It's crazy how quickly the time flies by.

As of tomorrow, we'll have 120 days and counting until our little baby is born. We're so excited. It still seems, though, that it's all a dream and that April will never come. We'll probably feel a little differently once the new year comes.

I suppose all we can do right now is just be grateful that we're happy and healthy and the Lord has blessed us immensely. We have great families, friends, and an awesome ward. What more could a young couple ask for?

Love to all!

Turkey, Baby Bumps and Bowling

2008-11-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

We hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. I know we certainly did. We had originally planned to go to Wisconsin to spend time with Jennie's family, but it didn't work out. So, we decided to stick around here and spend the time with my Ostermiller side of the family. Which was fun.

The Ostermiller side of the family is rather large. i.e. Jennie is the 131st addition to the family. That's BIG. I think we're up to 140-something now. There were just over 60 people present for our Thanksgiving feast yesterday. That's a LOT of food. Lot's of kids running around. Good times.

So, for Jennie's mom's benefit we've been asked to post a picture of the "Baby Bump." Here it is.
That thing sure is growing insider her. The doctors have told us that the baby is now about 10 inches long, and weighs just over a pound. We're just so excited.

We also got invited last night by some friends in our ward to go bowling with them. It was funny that on "Turkey Day" I got my first ever Turkey in bowling. That's right. I threw three strikes in a row. I was on fire last night. I don't know exactly why. But it was, without doubt, the best I've ever bowled. Actually, if I were to be completely honest, I had some help from the bowling alley. The guy's lane kept getting caught up. I on the second strike of my turkey, I actually had three shots at it because the mechanism behind the pins kept getting jammed. But all of my other strikes were legit. My score for the first game (with the inadvertent help) was 170. My second score was 168. I only missed about 6 pins and had four strikes in the second game. Up to the 9th frame, I'd only missed three.

It's a Boy!!

2008-11-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

We're very excited to announce that we had our ultrasound today and we're having a bouncing baby BOY!!

If you look closely at the picture, you can see all his facial features. He's got an Ostermiller nose.

It looks like the due-date is still April 1st. So we're still looking good.

A Brief Update

2008-11-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

Well, Jennie is now 19 weeks along, and we're super excited to find out what the baby will be. We find out officially on Nov. 20th. So far, things have been going great.

Jennie often says that she wishes she would be showing more. She's still in that in between stage of the pregnancy where if you look close enough she looks pregnant. But she says she'd prefer to show more so that it's blatantly obvious and people don't have to wonder.

We're pretty sure she felt the baby kick for the first time a little earlier this past week. We're not 100% certain, though, because neither of us have felt it before. She described it as almost a little flutter in her stomach but it was pretty low down.

The weather here in Rexburg has finally started to turn cold. It seems Mother Nature has finally made up her mind and given us some winter-like weather. We've had some snow once or twice, but nothing that's stuck around for more than a day.

We had a great Halloween and participated in the Halloween concert. The theme was "Pirates of Madison County." I know. It's a little lame-sounding, but it was fun anyway. The concert was drastically shorter than last year where they tried to cram way too much into it.

The basis of the concert was that Captain Hook (the conductor) had enslaved the orchestra as his crew and he'd found a treasure map that allowed him to dissaparate and apparate where a treasure was by playing the right song and playing it well enough. I was the "tin-eared" trombonist that "couldn't even read the notes on the page." We all know that's a lie. But, apparently, my character thought the notes were "more like guidelines." The captain tries to get me to walk the plank, but I trick him out of it.

My parents and little sister were nice enough to drive up for the concert on Halloween (Greg, you missed out). We had a great time and they even spent the night in our tiny apartment with us. It was kind of fun.

Anyway, everybody will be hearing from us soon with a very important announcement. I'll keep my hopes hidden on the matter, but we'll be excited no matter what the turn out.

Wishing everybody well. Have a great week!

Our Current Situation

2008-11-04T20:42:00.000-08:00

While I'm not thrilled about our nation's choice in it's President, I'm actually not all that surprised by it.
Barak Obama really is a good guy. I know he's a family man, a devout Christian, and he'll do his best to run the country as he deems appropriate.
I can't help the fact that he's a little more liberal than I would like, but, when I think about it, neither of the candidates would have been my first choice.
So, here's to four interesting years with our nation's first black President. That's a change that I'm actually somewhat excited about.

Irks, Excitements, and Reasons to Graduate Quickly

2008-10-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hello to all. It's been about a month since I've gotten on here and written anything. A little minor thing called EDUMACATION keeps getting in the way.

Anyway, the reasons for today's post are three-fold. I wish to express my annoyances with recent things, my excitement about Jennie's and my life, and other things.

Recently, I've been very upset with my wireless phone provider. This past May, I renewed my contract with them and purchased a new phone, an LG Chocolate (the first version). The second generation of Chocolate had already come out, but this one was an approved, pre-owned version, and it was only 50 bucks.

By the time August came around, the touch-screen part of the phone had gone out on me, and without it, the phone is worthless. I can't do anything with it. I took it to the store in Idaho Falls to get it fixed/replaced. They replaced the phone saying it must have had some kind of software error. I accepted that and took the replacement. Little did I know that no more that two months later, the replacement phone would restart the starting process over and over and over again, without warning.

Since the loading process wouldn't stop, the phone never fully loaded. I was forced, yet again, to get a replacement Chocolate and lost all the contacts from my phone! Needless to say, I was fairly irked at this. I didn't want another Chocolate, but the phone company has a policy that they can only switch to a new model of phone after a certain number of times replacing the original model.

So, I gave my dad (the lead name on the account) a call. He pays the company for our family plan, so he gives this company a nice chunk of change every month. They called me up and offered to replace my 3rd Chocolate with a new LG Envy2, which I'm very happy with. All it takes to get what you want is pulling a few of the right strings.

Last Chance Before School

2008-09-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

Well, as a last-resort to try and get out of town before school started, Jennie and I decided to invite our friends, Mike and Courtney Hokanson to go to Yellowstone with us and make a day trip out of it.

It's kind of been a tradition for me over the last several years to make a trip up through there every summer. How could we make this one any different, especially before the baby comes and we'll have to limit our traveling?

Our first stop was Mesa Falls in Island Park. The falls are always breathtaking and so fun to see. We'd gotten an early start, and so it was still very chilly when we got there. You can see Jennie was all bundled up in her jacket, and a hoodie, but I was only wearing a long t-shirt and another short-sleeved one one top. I was freezing.

Later on, we stopped at Big Springs and saw the huge fish there. It hasn't been as good recently as it was when I was a kid b/c of the stupid seagulls that have, somehow, found their way there.

Our drive up through Yellowstone was very pretty, but pretty uneventful.

One funny thing, though, is that while we'd stopped at Old Faithful to see the geyser, we got there about 40 minutes before it was supposed to go off. We ate our lunches and enjoyed some time chatting. After that, we froze to our bones waiting for that stupid thing to go off. We waited a half hour (15 minutes either way of when it was supposed to go off) and decided that if you've seen it once, you've seen it a bunch of times. So, we took off to more interesting things.

On the drive down the south exit of Yellowstone, everybody in the car was already pretty beat. So, while they slept, I drove. They missed a very pretty drive, though.

We ended up in Grand Teton National Forest where we hiked around the south end of Jenny Lake and to Cascade Falls. It was a beautiful hike, but Mother Nature couldn't make up her mind as to the weather. When we first started walking, it was cold enough that we could see our own breath and we could have used a good cup of hot chocolate. But after bundling up and walking for about 15 minutes, the sun came out and we were sweating up a storm. We had to carry our coats with us through the whole two mile hike. Suffice it to say, we were slightly annoyed.

After the hike, we were completely famished and HAD to have something to eat. We'd wanted to wander the stores in Jackson Hole for a little bit, but decided that eating was more important. And, with Jennie pregnant, it's better to take the food.

We had an awesome dinner at Bubba's Barbeque. I swear they have the best beef brisket in the world.

On the drive home, though, I asked Mike to drive the rest of the trip b/c I was running on maybe 3-4 hours of sleep. I didn't sleep well the night before. One of those "little kid on Christmas Eve" kinds of things.

Anyway, we loved our trip and can't wait to do it again next year with our baby. Love to all.

Big News!!!

2008-08-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

Jennie and I found out near the beginning of the month that we were pregnant.

After going to the doctor this week and having our first ultrasound, we decided to make it official among friends and family. So, here's our first baby picture.

When we were filling out all the paperwork that needed to be done for insurance applications, etc., we were asked to list a due date. We hadn't been to the doctor yet, and so we weren't quite sure what to put for a due date. We did some quick math and figured it would be near the end of March or beginning of April. So, we listed April 1st as the date for our baby to come.

Lo and behold, the doctor told us April 1st is going to be our due date. MAN!, we're good.

A Weekend Away

2008-08-17T19:29:00.001-07:00

So, despite the fact that this has been a relatively uneventful summer, Jennie and I have had a few opportunities to get out of Rexburg for a day or so.

On Aug. 2nd, we were up at 3 am so that we could drive to Boise to attend my best friend Mike's wedding. It was a beautiful drive and a beautiful day. I kind of liked the fact that there was little to no traffic on the highway at 5 in the morning.

I should mention that, since we were going to be driving on a relatively deserted highway, I had the bright idea to bring a small 1 gallon jug of gasoline, just in case. Little did I realize that the fumes from the gasoline would get out from the can, and cause us both to be very nauseous. Jenny, especially, was feeling very green.

Once we got to Boise, we had a little trouble getting into our hotel because we were there at 10:30 am and the real check-in time was supposed to be 3 pm. The wedding was at 12:30, and we were supposed to be there at 12:00. Suffice it to say that we were a little bit panicked because we had been driving all morning and didn't exactly look our best.

We drove around for a little bit to make sure that we could find the temple from our hotel. It was only about a 6 minute drive. The desk manager at the hotel pulled a room from her sleeve and got us in so we could change and get to the wedding.

When we got to the temple, we went right into the waiting room. Courtney's Grandfather was a sealer, and gave a wonderful ceremony. I've known Mike for a long time, and I've never seen him so happy. He and Courtney both were radiant.

We had a great time and really enjoyed the festivities after the reception at Courtney's house. I did my usual thing with helping to decorate the car. I've had years of experience and really had quite the finesse the job required.

The drive back to Rexburg went without any hitches, and we were glad to be back so we could take a nap and really get some rest.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY!

I hope everybody had a wonderful and safe 4th of July.

This weekend we took some time off to come home and spend a few days with the family. Greg, (little brother) is the Squad Leader for the Sousaphones in the High school marching Band. You can see his face through the flute player's arms right in the center.

Otherwise, we just kind of chilled this weekend. My family just bought Rock Band for the Wii. It's super fun. I'm starting to get good at the drums.

The fireworks this year were pretty good.
Sadly, my little camera doesn't handle dark pictures very well.

We actually got to see two shows. Kind of.

While we were sitting on the grass of a stake center here in Kaysville, we could see Lagoon's fireworks show off in the distance.

The show started off with the Star Spangled Banner, and followed with "Coming to America" by Neil Diamond. Celine Dion sang "God Bless America." I always found it ironic that she would sing that song when she's from Canada. Oh, well.

We're looking forward to a great day tomorrow where we'll be going to the car show in the morning while the girls go shopping. Then, in the afternoon, we'll all meet at Willard Bay to go boating.

Love Everbody, and GOD BLESS THE USA!!

Scott's Favorite Cars

2008-07-04T11:34:00.001-07:00

I've been taking a collection of some of my favorite cars over the past year or so. Most of them are Mustangs, but there's some great cars here.

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 428 Cobra Jet

1965 Chevrolet Impala

1970 Dodge Charger R/T

1970 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

1969 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR
(KR means "King of the Road)

I'll probably be going to the Cache Valley Cruise-In tomorrow in Logan to get a glimpse at a few more cars. I'm super excited.

Eagerly Waiting

2008-07-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

Things are changing rapidly around here where the time flies faster than we can keep up with.

For the most part, Jennie and I are keeping busy with classes, and work and just trying to enjoy the summer time we have together before anything else happens. We came to the realization that this may very-well be the last summer we have just us. We don't know how long anything will last.

We recently inherited some new furniture from some neighbors and now love the way our apartment is decorated. It's finally home.

Jennie took some creative liberties and did up the walls and bookshelves just in time for us to have some friends over for some gyoza. If anybody wonders what that is, invite yourselves over and we'll have some. It's amazing.

Otherwise, Jennie and I are eagerly awaiting our trip down to Utah this weekend for the 4th of July. A three-day weekend where we don't have any obligations. We're planning on going boating with my family on Saturday, and just enjoying the time off. We really do love where we live. We're far enough away from home where we don't have to worry about being in our family's hair, but close enough where we can come down for the weekend and make a nice break.

Also, we've become quite the movie buffs this past little while. Jennie and I recently rented Fool's Gold, Jumper, and 10,000 BC. Suffice it to say we were quite disappointed with all three of them.

Fool's Gold could have been a great chick-flick if it wasn't for the two-second spot in the movie where Matthew McConoughey get's flashed by a girl in a boat, and it actually shows it. We were blown away that it was allowed a PG-13 rating.

Jumper, while it was based off a really cool idea, was VERY disappointing. We were expecting it to be after the superhero theme of movies recently, but it was just about a young man who can teleport himself and gets himself into a lot of trouble by robbing banks, etc. They had so many opportunities to make it into a cool movie, but didn't. There was a scene where he's walking around in his apartment and sees a news report of people being trapped by a flood. We were totally expecting him to go there and help save the people. Instead he went partying in London. LAME!

10,000 BC was one of those movies that you keep waiting for it to get better, but it never does. I highly underestimated this movie. All I can say is I'm glad I got it through Redbox and only paid a buck for it.

Things Are Heating Up

2008-06-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Rexburg...Last week we had a snow storm, this weekend, we'll be hitting the 90's. Why does the weather seem to have a mind of its own?

I've loved over the last couple days being able to go out running in the mornings. I'm slightly sunburned from doing these early morning runs. But I sure feel good afterward.

Jennie has started working this last week. She got a 100% on her training exam, and did very well on all of her calling training. We're really excited that she'll be working and have something to do at nights.

Meanwhile, we're enjoying our summer vacation. Love to everybody.

College Life

2008-06-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

It's a rough life, but somebody (anybody who wants a decent paying job) has got to do it.

Jennie and I have discovered over the past couple weeks what a pain in the butt it can be to try to get through all the financial struggles that a young married college couple can have. Not only do we have to pay rent, make car payments, pay the utilities and pay for insurance, we also have to pay for a lovely little thing called education.

Since money was a little tight, Jennie and I decided to apply for a student loan through our bank thinking this would be a great way for us to just get through the summer without having to pay our expenses out of pocket. Like I said, this sounded like a great idea until we discovered a few minor details.

My parents had gotten us all pumped up about being able to apply for food stamps. My dad said, "I've paid taxes for the last 30 years so you could get food stamps." But, guess what--Apparently the state of Idaho thinks that Melaleuca is paying me a little too well to qualify for food stamps. We're starving with all the things we have to pay for but, still, we don't qualify.

It's things like this that are making me want to change banks. When we initially applied for the loan, it appeared that its main purpose was to act as a supplementary cash flow to make up the gaps that federal and school loans didn't make up. So, we, being the impulsive people we are, applied for the loan and even got my dad to cosign for us. About 5 days later, I was on the phone with the bank checking on the status of the loan. They told me that all they needed was my school schedule..... Wait. I was under the impression that I didn't have to be in school in order to get this loan. That's the whole reason we applied for this loan instead of any other one.

So, I went about trying to get registered for a class. I've been sitting in on a Chinese 202 class this summer with the intention of learning the principles so I can have my teacher waive it later and I can move on without having to pay for the class. I went to the registration office to try and get this worked out. I had some fees to pay, and once they were done, I tried again. My teacher couldn't add me to the class because it's MIDTERMS! Apparently they shut the system down for about a week so they can do grades. So, after talking to the registration office again, I decided to get registered for a simple 1 credit class in the second block. I contacted the bank with my schedule. They sent the check the next morning.

Upon receiving the check last night, we discovered the interest rate and the payment schedule. If we were to make the scheduled minimum payments, we would be paying (are you ready for this?) almost three times more than the loan is for!!!!!

Bank Man, thank you for your generosity in helping my wife and I through this hard time. I'm sure after you collect, you'll have no grief over losing a customer. BTW, we're going to get another loan at a much lower interest rate and pay you back. Sorry to burst your bubble. You're not getting that much money out of me.

Summertime in the Burg

2008-06-04T09:58:00.001-07:00

Wow. I can't believe what I sloth I am at keeping this blog up to date. I just seem to be flat out terrible at it. Time has flown by so quickly with everything we're doing.

The semester ended without much excitement. Jennie was sent on tour with Symphonietta, a small strings orchestra, up through the north-western states. Over the two weeks (which seemed a lifetime in the eyes of two newlyweds) she performed in Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon. Most of the tour time was spent on the bus driving to the next destination. They'd pull off somewhere for lunch, take a tour of some boring museum, get back on the bus and drive to the performance venue. After performing each night, she'd meet their host family, go home with them, call me and then go to sleep. It doesn't get much better than that, eh?

Meanwhile, I was stuck at home. At the beginning of April, as I went into the housing office to renew our contract, I was informed that we wouldn't be allowed to because the school had decided to change its policy on married couples living in singles housing complexes. GOO!!! We were being forced out of our huge apartment that we got such a great deal on. So, while Jennie was on tour, I was responsible for moving our apartments. Luckily, on the same day we found out about us being kicked out, we found a much nicer, better place for about the same amount. But, let me tell you, moving apartments is no cakewalk.

Almost immediately after Jennie got home from tour, we set out on a trip back to Wisconsin for a wedding open house. I realize that we got married 4 1/2 months before, but it was the only time we could do it. We absolutely loved being back on Jennie's old stomping grounds, and my parents even flew out for the occasion. The Open House was on my birthday, which was supposed to go unnoticed by the guests, but somebody (my parents) squealed to somebody from Jennie's ward, and they then announced that it was my birthday and sang to me. I'll admit, I liked it.

Back on the home front, we're just trying to get through life one day at a time, struggling just like any other college students would. But, really, we wouldn't trade one moment of it. We keep growing closer in love and appreciation for each other, and that's the way it's supposed to be. There are so many things in this life to look forward to, and that's what we do. We are very much looking forward to the opportunity to become parents and start our little family. We expect it won't be long now before we have news of that nature.

Frozen Tundra

2008-01-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

Right now, the latest from Rexburg is that it's colder than the inside of a freezer no matter what time of day it is. Just three days ago, the temperature when I left to go to class was -18* and my nose hairs froze within one minute of closing the door.
So far, Jennie and I have done pretty well adjusting to living together, but it's been just that...an adjustment. There are times when we scare each other to death because we wake up next to each other and don't expect the other person to be there. Apparently I snore. I didn't know that when I was single. My roommates never told me.
The thing, I think, that causes the most trouble between us, which trouble is relatively minimal, is the fact that our schedules only allow for very little time together. With Jennie being a music major, she has to be at the school almost all day because of practice time and homework that can only be done on campus.
My class load, on the other hand, is relatively light. I'm only taking thirteen credits, but I stay very busy because I work every weeknight until 10 o'clock. My schedule, in turn, makes it so we can only be together after 10. By that point, the only thing that we really have time for is to get ready for bed and sleep. I sometimes have to stay up a little later to finish up some homework. Jennie hates going to be alone. It's not the easiest thing to be married.
Otherwise, Jennie and I are doing well. Every day is an adventure and we try to find the good things in life. We do love each other, and that, I think is what makes our bad days good. I've heard people say that the first month of marriage is the honeymoon, and the second month is the hardest. I don't know how true that is, but we'll have to see over the next few weeks.

Wedding Pictures

2008-01-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

The New Ostermillers

2007-11-04T08:41:00.001-08:00

Here's to the beginning of a wonderful new life together. This is me and my fiance, Jennie. We're getting married December 21st in the Bountiful Temple. The plan for right now is to live in Rexburg until we finish school. Who knows what will happen after that. We'll probably go wherever I need to go for graduate school.
I love Jennie very very much. She's the light of my life. I look forward to many many happy years together.