Oh BABY!

The months are flying by...the pounds are slapping on...the baby is growing...and the desire to meet this new family member is immensely increasing daily!!! The latest pregnancy woes include hormonal instability, heartburn, fatigue, and back pain. Aside from those few consistent issues, and the rapid tightening of my clothes in every area of my body, this pregnancy has been nothing but a blessing from God! I've included a few more "bump" pictures with this post...it's not my favorite part of this whole exciting process...but it is fun to watch the baby grow with each passing week.

18 weeks!



20 weeks! Half-way through already! I can't believe it:)



There's our baby!!!
Everytime I see this picture it makes me cry!
It's amazing, such a miracle!
And...this kid is going to be cute:) You can tell already




Baby foot:)




23 weeks! (About 5 months) Getting bigger!!!



All in the family :)

Well, while it's been an eventful fall with a lot of great family time and wonderful celebration, Kyle and I have even more to celebrate this holiday season. We are expecting a beautiful baby in June!!! We are so excited and cannot wait to meet this little precious gift from God!

Two positives were enough for us! Needless to say, this was a shocking and emotional evening!!



This is Baby Akers at a little over 12 weeks!
Our little alien baby!!! We can't wait!



Just over 14 weeks...feeling great!

Sister-Sister!

This fall we were able to spend some time seeing family. We went to Michigan for a short hunting trip, and then to Wisconsin for a long hunting trip. While Kyle was sitting in a tree, I was supporting my beautiful sisters, cheering them on in volleyball. Johanna is a senior this year, and we managed to make it up to watch her team win the sectional final game!! It was so exciting...not to mention fun to dress up, make posters, and cheer like I was in high school again!

I also got to see Bizl's team play in their conference tournament, and win it! She also sang the national anthem (she did wonderfully)!! It was so fun:) I'm so proud of them both!

At JoJo's Sectional Final game...had so much fun! GO JOJO!

The whole gang!!! GO BIZL!

Bizl got Tournament MVP! What a stud:)

We also got to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Wisconsin. My mom prepared the most amazing meal...I seriously have been missing the stuffing ever since. It was so great and very relaxing. We got to go shopping, make Christmas cookies with the girls, and get some much needed sleep! Friday after Thanksgiving we went to the Plymouth Christmas parade...always a great time!

Mom's Thanksgiving dinner! YUM

Making Christmas cookies with Elsa and Luci. So fun!

Everybody at the Christmas Parade:)

A Hunting We Will Go!!

Recently, Kyle has been obsessed with hunting. He literally would do it all day, every day if it was possible. He found a good spot here is St. Louis, but had more success getting a deer with his car than sitting in the stand!! It wasn't until a trip to Michigan in November that he finally found success. Got his first doe, and has been talking about it ever since! I'm proud to say I'm officially a hunter's wife, not just a dangerous, nature observers wife. :)



Kyle with his nephew, Braden, and brother Craig after the big kill!!!




Kyle, all geared up in northern Wisconsin for Deer Camp, 2011



Volleyball Season!

Well, it's been another wonderful season. The girls were great, they worked extremely hard, and it's been so fun coaching them. I can't wait to see what God has in store for next season! Go EAGLES!!

Team sleepover!! What a great night...we had about 12 people in our tiny condo...it was GREAT!



Starting to slow down for the evening:)



My girls!!!

First Camping Trip!

Kyle and I decided it was time to try a family camping trip. This being the first opportunity for us to go out this summer, it was a learning experience and quite the adventure! We bought all the necessities, picked a location (2+ hours away), packed the car, the cooler, and the dog, and hit the road! The weather was beautiful and the southern Missouri scenery was beautiful too! Unfortunately, upon arriving at our destination, we discovered there were no more camping sites available...with no GPS signal, no map, and no familiarity with this new wilderness, we were left to wander, seemingly aimlessly, until we stumbled upon our lucky second destination. Slightly frazzled and frustrated by our circumstances, Dexter added to the madness with a sudden car sickness spell (so nasty!)! Things were looking up when we arrived at our site at 6:30pm! We had to kick it into turbo gear to get the tent set up (for the first time ever), collect firewood (because naturally we didn't get any before leaving), and start a fire (with an empty lighter, about 6 matches, and zero burning paper), and blow up an air mattress (by hand in 90+ degree weather) all before dark. Needless to say, we made it! It was tense there for a while, but we pulled together and got things done in the most efficient way we knew possible.



Kyle and Dex out collecting firewood for our fire




Our site when we unloaded the car and before any real progress had been made...




Our site after the tent had been set up and the fire built!



Kyle begging the fire to start!



Success! We did it!!



Kyle and Dex had ticks all over them...I, on the other hand, just got attacked by mosquitos and between the two ankles had somewhere near 30 bug bites. This is Monday morning's attempt at relieving the ITCH!! AHHH!!!



I decided that inflicting "itch" on prisoners of war would be an effective tactic...it's MISERABLE!

 After a rocky night filled with Dexter getting acquainted with every foreign noise of nature, we woke early to the noise of 3-4 ORV's revving up their engines and doing dry-runs through our camping area....LOVELY! Making lemonade out of lemons, we got the fishing gear together and headed to the lake to try our luck on the open water. Well, after a steamy 2 mile hike through a very wooded terrain, we re-emerged back where we started and set up our fishing post. And after about 2 hours and no success, we packed up our gear, headed back to the site, plucked the ticks off Kyle and the dog, and headed home. All in all, it was a success. We now know how to expedite the camping "process" and also know never to bring Dex again...HAHA! He's definitely a city dog! Next weekend we get to go camping again...it should be a smooth and enjoyable experience!! :)

Mom comes for 4th of July!

The summer is already half way done...I can't even believe it! We invited Mom Akers down to spend some time with us over a long weekend and check out all of the St. Louis holiday festivities. There was a lot to do, and very little time, but we had a great visit. We went to the Botanical Gardens, the Science Center, the IMAX Theater, and to Fair St. Louis' Air Show. After a long, busy weekend we dropped her off at the airport, and Kyle and I finished out the evening with Historic St. Charles Fireworks. It was a great weekend!

One of the photo stops in the Botanical Gardens

Kyle and his Mom at another photo stop!

It was another HOT St. Louis weekend!!

Sara, Greg, and Rosie Come to Visit!!

The summer is rolling by at record speed!! It's crazy to think it's almost the 4th of July already! The weather is hot, and Kyle and I are very busy managing work, school, and everyday life. Below are some pictures and the story of the Bytwork visit to St. Louis...

Kyle and Elsha taking the stroller for a walk at the Zoo.

Bytwork fam posing with the gorilla statue at the Zoo.

Sara and I outside the Zoo....after a long, hot, exhausting afternoon!!

Rosie and Greg getting ready to ride the tram at Grant's Farm.

Elsha Rose and me on the tram waiting for all the cool animals to show up. She's so cute!

Kyle FINALLY fed the camel!!! :)

A nice break from the busy hustle and bustle was when Sara, Greg, and Rosie came down for a visit! We haven't seen them since March and we were SOOOO excited that they were able to come. Sara is due with Baby Bytwork #2 in August, so it was really special to spend some time with them before their life got super busy and exciting. We went to the Zoo, to Grant's Farm, and down to the arch for a nice visit. The next time we see them will probably be in October when we go up to Michigan to see the family and say hello to that brand new baby! We love them!

Mom and Dad Come to Town!

The first weekend in June was probably the hottest weekend we've had in St. Louis so far...and it just happened to be the same weekend Mom and Dad Egerer and some of their friends came down on their motorcycles to visit! It was steamy for sure!

But we had a great time! We took them to Grant's Farm Saturday afternoon and learned a ton! After that we all headed to City Museum downtown St. Louis - this was Kyle and my first visit to that particular museum, and holy cow! It was AMAZING! I haven't had that much fun probably since I was 10 years old! It was great...definitely will visit again! Here are some pictures of our weekend...just a few however, the camera didn't make it on many of our adventures!

Cheesin' it before my ride on Dad's motorcycle!



The whole gang at Budweiser




Climbing through one of the tunnels at City Museum!




Dad is in the top of the bird cage




I think Gary and my dad enjoyed this experience more than anyone else...




Kyle & Tori - City Museum



10 Months and Goin' Strong!

Tomorrow my wife and I will have been married for 10 months. Within our 10 month honeymoon we have tried 1 all-nighter of which found us both asleep shortly after midnight,  found 3+ habits that annoyed the other to no end, argued 14+ times about things we both never knew we cared about and still don’t, disagreed on 23+ topics of conversation of which consisted of many moments that one forgot what was being discussed yet continued to disagree, laughed at the other ones expense 31+ times, grossed the other one out 53+ times to the point a serious conversation had to be had, cleaned up 112+ pee puddles from a dog who has seen life flash before his eyes more than any cat has lives, and look forward to  15+ million more moments  to share.

One Happy Family!!!

Lazy Sunday

Weekends are a time for us to relax, recover from the busy week, and just enjoy eachother. This weekend we decided to head outdoors and try fishing in the lakes/ponds back behind our place. The weather was beautiful and the fish were biting! Dexter also enjoyed running through the mud and even went swimming for the first time!

Kyle actually caught him...I just got to take a picture with the prize :)