Baby Fries

That's right, during week 8 Baby Fries was the size of a raspberry!!! Baby Fries was probably jumping around like crazy and trying to get my attention by waving his/her little arms and legs. It will be awhile before I will be able to feel Baby's movements but I am so excited for that day!!!!



Last week, Baby Fries grew to be more the size of an olive!!! Baby's fingerprints are already formed and his/her little fingers can grasp an object placed in the palm of his/her hand....mostly other fingers and toes!



It is officially week 10! The most critical part of Baby Fries' development is complete. Baby's body length will almost double during the next 3 weeks! WOW! While a bit strange to envision, Baby's head is now about half its length - Soon the rest of the body's growth will catch up but for now this allows for rapid brain development! Baby's eyelids will fuse shut and irises will begin to develop - his/her eye color is also determined by this point.

Nathan and I have our first OB doctor's appointment on Monday and will probably get another ultrasound :) My next blog will include all the ultrasound pictures we have gotten so far!

We are still house hunting but waiting on the Lord to reveal to us the right time and the right house. We trust in His timing!

We had an awesome weekend skiing with our youth group in Laramie, WY at Snowy Range (I didn't get to ski but still had a great weekend). We enjoyed temperatures in the 50's today compared to -2 earlier this week!! What a blessing!

Very Thankful: NC & VA Road Trip

Greetings! I can't believe that the Christmas season is already upon us! Here is a quick overview of what we have been up to since our last post!

November 6-7
-Trip to Vedauwoo, WY with some high schoolers and middle schoolers from our youth group! We were able to enjoy God's beautiful creation by exploring some boulder formations! It was awesome!



Do you see the whale?

November 13th-14th

One of my best friends, Dani, flew in from California for the Husker game! Although she is a USC fan at heart, I believe that the Huskers are a very close second!! :)


November 19th

Nathan and I left Grand Island, NE bright and early to begin the longest road trip we had ever attempted during our 1 1/2 years of marriage.... :) We made it all the way to Clarksville, TN in time to grab a hotel room so we could watch the Husker game! We got on our way the next morning and made it to Nathan's aunt and uncle's house in Huntersville, NC by 3:30PM! We were able to spend Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday afternoon with Brian, Jen, Dylan & Brooke! On Monday, Nathan and I went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame with Jen in Charlotte, NC! It was pretty cool!





Nathan's UNL internship was where the foam SAFER barriers for all NASCAR tracks originated! He was very excited to see the display!



After spending a few days with the Carey family, we drove just about 3 hours to Holden and Rachel's house in Radford, VA which is near Roanoke, VA! We spent Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning with them! We had not yet met little Cliff Hudson so it was so wonderful to finally hold and kiss him! Riah is now 2 years old, so he was talking a mile a minute! Dad and Mom drove in from Nebraska on Wednesday night and Eric and Carley came on Thursday afternoon! We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving ever OUTSIDE! Thanksgiving afternoon was sunny and gorgeous!









We had a VERY good time just hanging out as a family and look forward to Holden, Rachel, Riah & Cliff as well as Eric & Carley travelling home for Christmas in a few weeks! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Tons of Love

Nathan and I recently got together with some friends for a pumpkin carving contest!!!!! :) Here is the pumpkin that we carved....





We ended up winning BEST TITLE :) It was so much fun! Nathan and I are truly blessed to have an awesome church family here in Kearney. We are able to meet with 4 other couples almost every Thursday night for a meal and fellowship and it is so encouraging!

Nathan got a wall-hanger this past weekend! He is VERY excited about it.....


I am so proud of him and looking forward to the jerky and deer meat :) We are heading to Lincoln for the HUSKER game this weekend!!!! In just a few weeks we will be starting our ROADTRIP to North Carolina and Virginia for Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait....

This and That

Wow! Nathan & I have had quite a summer....check it out!

4th OF JULY WEEKEND

After our Estes Park Adventure at the end of June, we headed home for the 4th of July! Since my parents met up with Eric & Carley in St. Louis, Nathan and I spent time with his family. His brother Jeremy came home from Lincoln for the weekend and brought his boat. So we headed out to the lake with Jeremy, Nathan's parents Bill & Shelly, and Nathan's older brother Scott & his family! We spent the day tubing, water skiing, and wakeboarding! After grilling some burgers, we took the boat out on the water for fireworks. The local fire department put on a great show!

Amanda & Fletcher (1 1/2)

Nathan & Barrett (3)

JULY10th WEEKEND

We traveled to Lansing, Michigan for Nathan's Uncle Doug's wedding to a wonderful woman named Kara! They had an awesome wedding in a chapel on Michigan State campus. After the ceremony, the reception was held AT the Michigan State Stadium! It was awesome! Doug even surprised Kara (HUGE Michigan State fan & alumni) by inviting Sparty the Spartan to the party (Michigan State's mascot)! All of Nathan's aunts from Nebraska drove up for the wedding as well as his aunt from North Carolina so all the immediate cousins were together for the event!

The Bride with Sparty the Spartan

Aunt Jen (from NC), Kara, & most of Girl Cousins

JULY OREGON TRAIL DAYS: Scottsbluff, NE

Nathan & I travelled to Gering, NE (about 4 hours from Kearney) to visit our good friends Levi & Ashlee! Levi is one of Nathan's best friends who stood as one of his best men in our wedding. Two months after we got married, Nathan was able to stand up as one of Levi's best men when he and Ashlee got married in August 2009! Levi and Ashlee recently had an adorable baby girl name Jovee (honeymoon baby)! By the end of the weekend I am afraid to say that I had caught a bad case of baby fever...

How can you say no to that adorable little angel?

WEEKEND of JULY 24th

Since most of the Nathan's family & friends in Nebraska did not get the attend Uncle Doug's wedding in Michigan, we had a Nebraska reception in St. Paul, NE! It was so much fun! We did alot of polka-dancing!

LAST WEEKEND of JULY

Nathan & I have the privilege to help with our church's high school youth group on Wednesday nights! This last weekend we were able to meet up with all of the other youth group leaders for food & fellowship. On Saturday morning we had a planning/brainstorming meeting about the upcoming school year and how we can be the most relevant to our teens! Our mission statement is:

Helping students and their families MEET, LOVE, & FOLLOW Jesus

We are really excited about the upcoming school year and the opportunity the Lord has given us to speak TRUTH into the lives of the next generation!

WHAT'S NEXT???

This next weekend (August 6-8) we have TWO family reunions. Thankfully one is in Boelus, NE and the other is in Cairo, NE (about 10 miles away from Boelus). So we will flip flop back and forth and be able to see both sides of the family! Hope all of you are enjoying your summer :)

Estes Park Adventure

Nathan and I recently spent a weekend getaway in Estes Park, Colorado to celebrate our 1st year of marriage :) YAY! We made it! It was such a fun weekend! We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast called Dripping Springs when was perfect: we had two awesome homemade breakfasts, a sleep by number bed, and a HOT TUB (boy was that awesome after our 5 hour hike on Saturday)! We had never been to Estes before so it was fun to explore. We had Italian one night (Nathan's pick) and sushi the other (Amanda's pick)! We saw lots of wildlife......

This little guy was my favorite...just eatin his pine cone like a little corn cob! 

Nathan was very excited to see some very large Elk on the side of the road! 

This is a marmot and this picture was taken right before I (Amanda) ran away because it was definitely ready to attack (Nathan on the other hand was seeing how close he could get to the thing with the video camera) 

We had so much fun hiking and just walking around the different shops in Estes Park! If you would like to see all of our pictures from our weekend check out our Picasa Picture sight by clicking HERE! Hope everyone has an awesome, safe 4th of July weekend! We will be spending time with Nathan's family as my parents are spending the weekend with Eric and his fiance in St. Louis!

Watch for a post about our Estes Park Adventure...

Hello! Just wanted to let you know that I am working on a post about our recent anniversary trip to Estes Park, Colorado this weekend! It was so much fun!!! Post and pics should be up by the end of the week!

Nathan & Amanda Fries

Camping Weekend!

Last weekend we went camping at a Nebraska State Park south of Lincoln with two other couples! It was the first time using our tent and we had a so much fun! Nate goes hunting with his dad, uncles and cousins at this park in November so he had fun scouting out some good spots for treestands. We did a few hikes and the weather was beautiful! Here are a few pictures...

Nathan & I and Matt & Cami

Nathan and I by the Missouri River

The second week of classes are going well. We are headed to the State Fair tonight if the rain holds off to see Randy Travis and walk around the Fair! Until next time...

Wedding weekend!

Last weekend one of our best men Levi got married in Scottsbluff, NE. Levi and Nathan met while attending Western Nebraska Community College. We really enjoyed the weekend since we had a chance to visit with our other best man Zane and friends that we did not have time to visit with at our own wedding! Here are some pictures from the weekend!

Nathan, Levi, and Zane (Levi & Zane were our Best Men in our wedding)

Nathan and I before the wedding

A very good looking wedding party before the reception

You will notice that Levi literally has a ball and chain around his ankle...it is a Keener family tradition to actually chain a bowling ball around the leg of the groom at the reception. Nathan and Zane, being the best Best Men ever, thought ahead and purchased a saw to auction off. So after funds were attained...

Nathan worked so hard sawing that he actually cut his finger a little bit. It was intense but Levi was very relieved to have it off. His cousin, who was behind the plot, watched the whole saw process and after the chain was free, presented Levi with the key. It was pretty funny.

We had a wonderful time in western Nebraska. While driving home we were able to drive past Nebraska's most famous landmark: Chimney Rock! Here it is...

After returning from the wedding weekend, we both started classes at UNL! Nathan has classes primarily on Mon/Wed/Fri and I am soley on Tues/Thurs but we still get to spend most evenings together whenever I am not working a late shift. I have some very interesting Psychology classes and I am really enjoying my internship with the Lincoln Crisis Pregnancy Center! We are both looking forward to spending the weekend camping with two other couples at a state park south of Lincoln on Saturday and Sunday! I am sure that is what our next blog will be about! Hope everyone is doing well!