Birthday Bronco Market Week

We have now been in Detroit for almost a month, and we are still looking for a place to live. We have now set our sights on the downtown area. We've been apartment hunting for awhile--we really like the convenience and atmosphere of living downtown (for anyone who's thinking, oh no, downtown Detroit?! Don't worry, it's actually quite nice).

Ben's birthday was this week, and we did a lot to celebrate. Not only was there ice cream cake, but we got to go to a Boise State football game!

They played (and won) in Toledo, OH which is about an hour from where we live. The people there were really nice, and we found a tasty chili dog stand.  We were not, however, impressed with the town itself--it's pretty sketchy. One guy at the game, upon finding out that we live in Detroit, said, "I'm sorry" (which is not an uncommon reaction, almost always from people who have never actually been to Detroit). Ben and I both thought, sorry man, if you're from this town, you have no room to make fun of anywhere else. No offense, Toledo.

This morning in the midst of our downtown apartment hunting, we went to the famous Eastern Market, which is a 43 acre farmer's market in the city.  It was awesome. They have all kinds of produce, flowers, bread, honey.... the list goes on. And we loved it there--we plan on going every week if we do end up living downtown.

Part of the market is located on this intersection, which we thought appropriate to document. Don't worry, the E stands for Esquire.

Missouri Trip

It was a busy weekend for Ben and me, since we were able to visit my family in Missouri for the first time in over a year--the last time we were there was for our wedding reception. Much has changed....

My high school reunion was this weekend, so I was able to see a lot of people I haven't seen in years. Ben was a hit--surprise, surprise. I think he talked to more people than I did. My baby belly was also quite popular.

In fact, all weekend I had people from school, church and other random people touching my belly. No one loved it more than my family. They all wanted to feel the baby kick, and my brothers kept pointing at my stomach and saying, "baby." I think they're excited to be uncles (especially since they're having a nephew....) In further baby news, he is moving quite a bit now--I can even see my belly bounce sometimes. It's pretty exciting to feel.

It was nice to get to spend so much time with my family. We saw HP7 Part 2 (awsome), played tennis (of course) and went to the pool, which I've been wanting to do for months. We were also able to fulfill Ben's dream of having Kansas City barbeque. It was good, though technically it was in Independence. Maybe when we have more time we can take him into the city.

My mom also pointed out that I neglected to pay tribute to Josh's 18th birthday. That's probably because his birthday happened to fall on the same day that we got our ultrasound. I thought giving him a nephew would be a good enough gift, but I don't want him to feel left out, especially since Nate's made it on our blog twice. So I'll take a bit of time to celebrate Josh's birthday.



I know this is kind of blurry, but I love this picture of him and our cousin Haleigh



Joshua Robert Fernquist

Born July 6, 1993, making him legally an adult.

He played golf in high school and still likes to play in tournaments

Is obsessed with the Kansas City Chiefs. A little side note--Josh is the most laid-back of all of us by far, but apparently when the Chiefs aren't doing well, he can get pretty scary.

He's going to BYU-Idaho this fall.

Just received the Melchezideck Priesthood this Sunday--which we were there for and Ben participated in.

If playing Apples to Apples, he will always select the most random card. Festering wounds was one of his favorites and it reduced him to tears.

When he was little, his teeth squeaked when he chewed.

Visiting him in the hospital when he was born is one of my earliest memories-- Geoff and I were pretty excited.

Happy Birthday Nathan Jacob Fernquist!

Today is my youngest brother's birthday, and I thought I'd take a page out of Kelly's (blog) book and do a little spotlight on this 90 pounds of pure sunshine.

About Nate:

Today is his 15th birthday.
He was born in Bozeman, MT. I was there. My parents made me go to school when it was done, which was pretty lame. And I was really hoping for a sister.

Sometimes has to share his birthday with Mother's Day.

Is a freshman in high school and is about to get his driver's permit. I don't think he'll be any worse than Geoff was when he started to drive.

He now sounds exactly like Josh on the phone--they even mumble the same. He thinks it's funny if you can't tell who he is.

Loves tennis. Is not afraid to smack talk about his abilities to beat you.

On Facebook: He has 374 friends. That's almost as much as me.

For college: He wants to go to BYU (which is an excellent choice).

Special skills: He makes the best oreo shakes. He can also dance.

Social skills: He is probably the coolest of the Fernquist children. He's the most social (note the number of Facebook friends) and has the best style (the only time I compliment Geoff's wardrobe is when he's wearing one of Nate's shirts). However, no one thinks Nate is as cool as he does.

1/2

Today marks the day that Ben is 25 1/2. We (meaning I) realized this at church when we (meaning I) saw the date printed on the program. As a complete coincidence, we had beef stroganoff, Ben's traditional birthday meal, for dinner. I've always been one to get excited about half birthdays. Partially because my birthday is in the summer and I never got to have a party at school (though I still maintain that summer birthdays are the best). So far, Ben's 25th year has been a good one. He's almost done with school--he's now planning on graduating in August. He still isn't sure what he'll do right after school, but we're still leaning more towards work than grad school. His favorite past times include baking, playing Sporcle, painting watercolors, riding his bike and reading about sports. His favorite colors are blue and orange, which explains the vibrant, slightly painful colors of this post. He's still as energetic as ever and never stops being happy, fun and exhausting.