Lots of Parties

Once again the past couple weeks have been filled with some fun activities. My mom and sisters hosted a baby shower for my sister Brittany who is expecting her first in just a few weeks. It was such a nice shower with yummy food, fun games and tons of cute little girl clothes. Both my sisters Brittany and Rebecca are due in just a few weeks and I can't wait for the new babies to come around.

Yesterday we celebrated Kyle's birthday, which is always fun cause I think birthdays are the best. We had a yummy dinner with BBQ tri tip, BBQ chicken, some yummy sides and finished it off with chocolate chocolate birthday cake. Love you hun, hope you had a nice birthday!

Oh the fam, always enjoy getting a nice picture all together once in a while.
Last Monday our ward hosted FHE at the temple. It was really nice to go there and enjoy being by the temple and feeling the Spirit. Evelyn and Chloe had a fun time exploring the grounds and touring the new visitors center which is really nice.
At the end all the kids sat on the stairs where couples exit after they get married and sang some primary songs. I loved being there and remembering the day I was sealed to my wonderful husband it really was a great day.


In the past couple weeks we've picked up another car. One car just wasn't working for us anymore so it is so nice to have another. We really enjoy it, it's a Land Rover and has plenty of room and is fun to drive.
Evelyn's cousin Zach had his 6th birthday party and it was a lot of fun cause they had a reptile show.
Evelyn sat next to Zach and wasn't too sure what to think of the snake he was holding.
Kyle was the brave one and held the snake so Evelyn could get a closer look.
I think Kyle was getting a little nervous as it was heading closer to him. Evelyn liked watching the snake's tongue go in and out so she was trying to imitate it.
The kids loved watching the tortoise cruise around on the grass, but Grandpa had to do some intervention when it started to eat his flowers.
It's continued to be a fun summer with family and friends. I am now into my 17th week of pregnancy and finally feeling a lot better though I am super tired all the time. We are really looking forward to 3 weeks when I find out if it's a boy or girl!!

Family update

Well Kyle finally finished the oh so lovely bar exam, and I am so happy that he is done with it for now. After he took the bar, that weekend we decided we needed a little break so we loaded up the car and headed to Palm Springs. We figured we'd take a nice little mini trip to celebrate Kyle being done with law school and the bar exam, since we are taking a big trip the end of September. It was so nice to all three be together without any distractions.

My pregnancy seems to be going really well so far, but my stomach feels like it's twice as big now than it was at this point with Evelyn so I don't know what to think about that. I have made it to somewhere between 14 and 15 weeks, and thankfully am feeling a lot better. My energy is still shot and night time isn't too fun but it's way better than a few weeks ago. We headed out to our storage unit a few days ago to try and retrieve my maternity clothes, yeah real exciting, but they were so far back that we would have had to unload the entire storage unit to get them, so luckily Kyle said to forget it and just go by some new ones. He may regret saying that. JK!

We are still enjoying being at my parents house and appreciating the help it really gives us. Evelyn loves it, I just don't know what she'll do when we move out and she doesn't have quite the amount of attention she gets from around here. Though my parents are so generous in letting us stay here, Evelyn still has her daily chores to do, like this one, washing her car, it's a tough life being a 2 year old with your own car already that you have to take care of.

We just love this little girl so much, she brings so much joy and happiness to our lives. I love looking at these pictures and seeing how big she is but at the same time it makes me a little sad to see her growing up.



A couple days ago Evelyn and I went to the LA Zoo. It was really fun to see all the animals. Evelyn was so excited, she would run from one animal to the next and give a new expression each time as if she had never seen an animal before. She would just talk and go on and on about each one. Who knows what she was saying but it was very cute.
Her favorite was the monkeys and gorillas. She stood there for a long time just looking at them and trying to figure them out. At one point she and a gorilla were face to face against the glass.
I just had to take a picture of the Zebras, I thought it was so funny they wouldn't look at people they just wanted to show us this lovelier side of them.

Can't leave without seeing the big hippo. I think Evelyn just thought it was a big rock in the water cause she was not interested in this one.

Celebrations; Announcement, Anniversary, Wedding

Well the t-shirt says it all, and it will be happening about Feb. 4th. We are so excited to have another little one come into our family. I am just about done with my first trimester which I am so excited about cause I do not enjoy feeling sick all the time and having no energy. So many memories have been coming back from when I was pregnant with Evelyn and I can't wait to have more with this new one. I know Evelyn will be a great big sister, but it might take a little adjustment.
Last week Kyle and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. I can't believe it's been 6 years, it has been a wonderful 6 years, and I look forward to many more. Since he has been so busy with the bar prep we just were able to make it to a movie and figure we will have more time to celebrate later.

The second week of July we headed out to Tampa Florida for Kyle's brothers wedding. It was a super quick trip but we were really glad we were able to make it and watch them tie the knot. Evelyn was also asked to be the flower girl so that was fun to see her perform. Here is the beautiful bride and groom, Angie and Klay.
Of course in the Koester family you can't have just a pillow for the ring bearer to carry, it had to be tied to a football. I thought it was a very cute idea.
Cute family pictures while we were waiting for rehearsal to start.

At the time of rehearsal Evelyn at first wanted to act shy, yes cause we all know how shy she is. Yeah Right.
On the day of the wedding I was a little nervous how Evelyn would do, if she would even walk down the isle by herself. Well she performed like a pro, I think she was liking the attention and all eyes on her. She was so cute and looked so beautiful, luckily daddy was up there for her to stand by.
My darling flower girl walking down the isle. Cute thing was after she walked down she stood there for a minute and then while I was hiding in the back I heard her coming back down the isle yelling, "Mom, Mom," so I hurried and got her out of the way so the bride could then walk down.

Cutest part of the wedding party!
This whole flower girl job just wore her out, look how tired those eyes are.
Kyle with his siblings. A very handsome and pretty family I have to say.
This was the best pose I could get from her, but I think it's quite precious.

The best part was watching Evelyn at the reception. She absolutely loved all the music and dancing. Not once did she ever want to sit down and take a break. You could tell she was so tired but she just kept dancing and pumping her arms.
Kyle getting ready to hit the dance floor.
Evelyn had fun dancing with Grandpa K.
I thought the center pieces were so pretty.

And of course she couldn't leave until she had her moment with the bride and groom.

San Diego/4th of July!

I'm a little behind on my blogging but we have been having a busy summer with one little trip after another that now I have to break up my blogs to get it all posted. The week before the 4th of July most of my family all went to San Diego for the week to play on the beach, go to Sea World and relax. It was so fun to have all 7 of the cousins together, Evelyn loved playing with them all. First day in San Diego we went to Sea World. It was really fun, I haven't been there in a long time so it was awesome to take Evelyn and see her really enjoy seeing all the animals and all the shows.
The dolphin show, always a classic.
The best show is of course Shamu. The animals really are amazing to watch, though I do get a little creeped out when the trainers just jump in the water with these huge whales.

All the cousins had a fun time running around and being with each other.
In order (Zach, Chloe, Olivia, Juliet, Evelyn, Grace, Ricky)
Rebecca and Chloe looking at the starfish. Watch out Chloe that belly might knock you right in.

Evelyn posing with the starfish.
Showing me she's 2.
Here's my niece Olivia, she really wanted to go on this ride so I waited in line with her.
It was a long day of walking around and enjoying the shows, so before we left we let the kids play in the splash pad Sea World has. Evelyn loved standing right on the hole and waiting for the fountain to squirt up.


She was shivering so much cause it got a little cold, so I let her wear my sweater.

Evelyn having fun on the beach with Aunt Madeline.
Another little pose of hers.
For the 4th of July we were all at my parents house and hung out and later watched 3 different fireworks shows from my parents backyard. The cousins posing for a cute holiday picture.
Here's my sweet little girl. A popsicle was being held behind my head and when she smiled for me she would get the popsicle, boy did that work.