"How many outs Brian?" "GRAPE!"

"...I'm gonna get grape, or cherry. They're both... favorites, so either one is good, but if they have both, I'll get grape, because grape is a little more favorite. But if they don't have grape it's like alright its fine, cause cherry's favorite anyway. It's like another favorite, but not as much. Not as much favorite. But they're both good. They're both good." The second baseman was always tryin' to help me out. "Hey, Brian move that way a little." "Okay." I don't know what gave him the authority to tell me that. "Oh, here? Oh, right here? Oh, over there, okay. This is where I was!" I remember he'd always tell me. "Two away, Brian! Two away!" "Uhhh..okay. "Brian! Two away!" "You too!"

That's right. We went to see Brian Regan on the 19th!  It was our first time getting to see him, and I have to say, it was worth the wait.  We never were able to get to shows in Salt Lake because they were either sold out, or too expensive, but getting to experience it at the old Fox Theatre in Detroit was amazing.  It was opened in 1928 and still has all of that old Detroit grandeur that we used to hear about.  While it's beautiful on the outside, the second we stepped into the building our heads were on a swivel.  We couldn't stop exclaiming over every little detail that caught our eye!  And there was a lot of detailed work done.  The ceiling alone could have sufficiently held our focus and scrutiny, but then there was a beautiful grand staircase, intricately shaped statues, and exquisite artwork.  

Isn't my date handsome??

We climbed a few flights of stairs (reality started to sink in then, we weren't some rich plantation owners visiting from the south. We were still a pregnant, starving student couple who had to get the cheap seats.), got to our seats, and sat with our mouths gaping. 

This is the actual theater room.

It was even prettier inside the theater hall! Luckily, we got there early so we were able to sit and gawk for about half an hour more before the opening act started.  He did a good job, but Brian Regan was amazing!  My poor squeezed bladder was barely withstanding how much I was laughing, and there were a few times when both Cory and I had to massage our cheeks/jaws because we were in constant laugh mode.  When it ended, we consoled ourselves with quotes from the show (we had just seen) on our walk back to our car.  
[As a side-note, the Fox Theatre is beautiful and "opulent" (Cory's favorite word of the night because it was so fitting for everything), but it's still in sketchy downtown Detroit and we still had to walk back a mile to our car on side streets with steamy man holes everywhere.  Don't think that this night was all unicorns and flowers for me...  I'm such a chicken. :) ]  

We missed you, +Nelson Mishler ! You would have died laughing. 

Cory.

There are a few things that I love. I love rolls. I love bread. I love chocolate. Water. Sunshine. Hikes. Being in shape (I miss that).  Family. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  My boots.  Traveling. And more that I can't think of. But my biggest love of my life is this guy:

 This guy who wears my brother's football jersey and acts like a total idiot with me. Whenever I want. I love that I can be myself with him and that he is comfortable being himself as well.

 This guy who doesn't eat his favorite: Mexican food, all because of me.  And then devours it when given the chance.  With a huge sappy grin on his face.

 This guy who would do anything, and I mean anything, for a laugh.  I am constantly impressed and surprised by the things he comes up with to make me laugh. I love every second of the time I spend with him.

 This guy who dresses up for Halloween and spends the night taking care of his sick wife-making it so he has to stay in and nobody can see his cute outfit. And then hands out the candy to the kids who come.  And then makes soup for me.

This guy who makes awesome log cabin gingerbread houses and wears his Norwegian sweater during the whole night, even when he's sweating.  

I guess it's safe to say that he completes me. :) But really, he does.  More than I ever thought possible. I just wanted to let everyone know where my love for him ranks. Now you won't need to wonder anymore. 

Thanksgiving

I am so glad that there is a holiday that we can take a whole day and show our gratitude for things.  I love that!  I feel so blessed in my life that I don't think a day is sufficient, but it is a nice reminder to be grateful for those little and big things that we have.  "The Lord has promised, 'He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious' (D&C 78:19). Gratitude is an uplifting, exalting attitude. People are generally happier when they have gratitude in their hearts. We cannot be bitter, resentful, or mean-spirited when we are grateful." (See this link for more)  

I have been blessed in my life to be born with an optimistic nature.  I then doubled my blessing when I married a similarly-natured stud.  I can't tell you what joy that trait has brought to our lives.  Although we won't be able to go home for Thanksgiving this year, we are lucky enough to be close to some dear friends who have opened their homes to us.  I am SO excited to see them this week! I look forward to eating my weight in rolls and bread, teasing Cory for the number of times he goes back for "seconds", talking girl-talk with Rachel and Abbey (it's been waaay too long), and having just a 3 day work week!

 I will be missing these folks, though:

I'm hoping we'll be able to get back for Christmas this year and see them.  It's been too long.  

It is comforting to know, though, that I'll be with the two men in my life: 

Can you see any resemblance? :)

I am 20 weeks now and finally feeling some movements from this boy!! We're grateful for all the support everyone showed when we announced our big news. We'll try to keep you updated on everything!

Love,

Cory & Bree  

Stork Sighting

No, we're not avid birdwatchers. And no, we haven't actually seen a stork recently.  But! We are happy to announce....

.....


.....

...WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!

We are so excited to share the news and excitement with everyone.  It's  completely a bit  unexpected, but extremely welcome news.  :)  Baby Blomquist is set to come on April 5th, making me 19 weeks pregnant now.  We are going in to get THE ultrasound done tomorrow and we are full of emotions; nervous/excited/giddy/happy/anxious/hungry. (Okay, that last one is just one of mine recently)  

Anyway, since we can't be with everyone to do an amazing gender reveal party (you should see my dreams lately, full of pink and blue and excitement and gender revealing. I wish we lived close to everyone!), we wanted to hear your guesses on what we're cooking up over here.  Here's a little help if you want more than just your gut instinct: 

·         Chinese calendar (based on mother's age and month of conception): Boy 

·         Heartbeat (faster than 150 bpm = girl; slower than 150 bpm = boy): Perfect 150, so… Toss up!

·         Morning sickness (very sick = girl; not so sick = boy): Girl

·         Skin (breakouts = girl; clear skin = boy): Girl

·         Leg hair growth (no more than usual = girl; lots of growth = boy): Boy (TMI? Sorry. J)

Cravings (sweet = girl; salty = boy): Boy                  

·         Feet (hot = girl; cold = boy): Girl

·         Bump position (high and wide = girl; low and centered = boy): Girl

·         Breast growth (lots of growth = girl; not much = boy): Girl

·         Mayan calendar (if mother's age at conception and year of conception are both even/odd = girl; if one is even and one is odd = boy): Boy

·         Sympathy weight (if your husband gains weight during the pregnancy = girl; if he doesn't = boy): Boy

·         Ring test (ring swings back and forth = girl; ring swings in a circle = boy): This was a toss-up!

·         My "mother's intuition" says Girl

·         Cory's "father's intuition" says Boy

·         Totals: 6 Boy and 6 Girl with 2 unsures. 

So there it is boys and girls (ha!), let us know what you think and if you want to join us for a google hangout tomorrow to find out! 

We love you all!

Love,

Cory and Bree...and Baby!! :)

Autumn Magic

October is here and we couldn't be more happy about it. Whenever we go on walks or drives we're in stunned silence almost the whole time. It's so gorgeous!! The trees, which are very abundant here, have all turned into fall beauties overnight, it seems. We are settling in with our ward out here and we're loving the camaraderie that exists already.  Cory was called to be a Webelo Scout leader and Scout Committee Chair.  Of course, he's made lifelong friends with all the boys already.  And I've been called to be the CTR 7 teacher. I have 5 kids and they are a handful already :) Cory just started his new job as a research assistant and is, so far, absolutely loving it. He's an amazing student and took his first mid-term yesterday-which I'm almost positive that he aced it.  I'm super proud of him and brag to everyone about him, so I'm sorry if it starts to get a little out of hand... :) I got a job!!!! I will start next Monday as an administrative assistant for a spinal rehab clinic affiliated with the University Hospital.  It is such a blessing to have and we definitely acknowledge Heavenly Father's helpful hand in that.  We are still slowly making our house a home, it's a little hard with no couches or dining table, but the other rooms are coming together.  You'll have to wait until we get those items to see the rest of the house ...

Cory's office. The one thing we have bought out here so far: his desk off of Craigslist for dirt cheap.  He's obviously studying for his solitaire test...

Sky writing for gameday. It says "HAIL" "133" (for the team number) and "M".

We are loving finding cute little towns around us and their apple orchards!

Before... 

...After! See? This literally happened overnight it seems!

We love you all! 

C&B

Homeless

We are loving it out here in Ann Arbor!  Sometimes I still wake up and wonder where I am, but that's because living in Michigan is still so surreal.  We are slowly adjusting to the humidity.  The weather is pretty unpredictable, but when the sun does shine, it's pretty hot (in fact, as I was writing this, our day of 90 degree hot weather, just turned into a rainy night. Odd.).  Our favorite thing so far about living here is biking/driving around and finding the most beautiful houses down the prettiest back roads.  It is so green and lush here that even not in rural places, you can find some gorgeous roads and sights.  We also just found a pretty awesome nature trail a couple miles from where we live, so we now have a go to running loop.  We have our moments of missing familiar faces and places, but we really are adjusting to our new life here. All we need to do now is move into our home... That's right. We're still homeless.  We bounced around from motel, ward member's houses, and a distant friend, but as of August 31st we will be moved into our place (which is amazing, considering that we moved out on July 31st from our place in Provo).  We hope to get in and make it homey enough by the time Cory has school -in two weeks! Yikes! Can't wait to show pictures!

Adventure Is Out There

We made it!! After 3 days of driving around in a huge 22 foot long Penske truck, we are now in Michigan.  We ended up having way too much space in the truck. We overestimated our boxes, I guess.  But luckily my mom was there to help us pack it up and she, being a truck driver's daughter, suggested the best way for us to pack it up.  It was so nice to get all the help that we did.  My mom rode the bus from Salt Lake City just to get to us and help pack up.  Our friends drove from Heber and Highland to help, even though they had babies and babies on the way.  Cory's brothers and my sister made it down from Salt Lake and helped so much.  We had friends and family come from all over! It was so nice of everyone. We really felt the love, which actually made it harder for us to leave. :(  

Last night at our first home together :(

The week before we had some lovely goodbye parties with family and friends.  We couldn't have asked for more.  There was a slip-n-slide, cookies, sprinklers, pictures, and good memories.  Thank you to everyone who made it such special goodbye.  We miss everyone immensely, but we are so excited to be out here together.  We are currently in a Red Roof Inn about 20 miles east of Ann Arbor while we try to figure out our living situations.  We fit all of our stuff into a teeny tiny storage unit down the road.  It's an exciting adventure and we'll be sure to keep everyone updated.   Can't wait :)

This was a cute little diner in Nebraska and the menu said "Ham & Eggs: A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig." We liked that. :)

Our first night on the road was a camping spot in North Platte, Nebraska. 

We found the real Mater in Iowa