All You Need Is Love

Welcoming 2012

2012-01-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

Well since 2011 is history and 2012 is brand new, I am welcoming this year. I'm still trying to figure out our word for 2012.

2011 was a lot of ups and downs for me. It was my year of hope. I lost it many times, especially with my last miscarriage in February, but tried to hold on to it. I had a really hard time the last few months of 2011 especially. I love the holidays for what they represent. I love Thanksgiving for being thankful for all that I have been blessed with and for my present life. I love Christmas for our Savior's birth and for His life. But the holidays are also very hard for me. Honestly, I get really depressed. I hate to admit this but I guess it's not that shocking, I am so jealous of people who have children on Christmas morning. I so badly want to play Santa Claus with Josh on Christmas Eve after we've tucked our child(ren) into bed and read Twas The Night Before Christmas to them. I want to see their excited faces in the morning. I may have romanticized in my head a bit but regardless, Christmas would be so much more fun.

I'm glad the holidays over and it's time for a fresh start.

We're ready to try again for a baby. It's taken a lot of time and a lot of prayer but I think I'm ready to put myself back on the emotional roller coaster. I pulled the emergency stop on the roller coaster last time when I was going around loops and then plummeted straight down a deep dark hole. I felt myself slipping further into a depression and knew I was fragile and couldn't take anymore. So after building myself back up, I'm ready. And I feel good about it. I've been pregnant twice so maybe a third time will be the charm. I feel like it's what I'm supposed to do here on this earth, I'm supposed to be a mother. It may not come in a way I think but one way or another, we want to be parents.

Josh found this article by Thomas S. Monson in this month's Ensign and I love it. It is my going to be my guide through this year. I love it and feel like it was written for me. I know it won't be easy and I am going to stumble a lot, but I'm going to try my hardest to pick myself up and keep going. This message will be my guide.

Living the Abundant Life

At the advent of a new year, I challenge Latter-day Saints everywhere to undertake a personal, diligent, significant quest for what I call the abundant life—a life filled with an abundance of success, goodness, and blessings. Just as we learned the ABCs in school, I offer my own ABCs to help us all gain the abundant life.

Have a Positive Attitude

A in my ABCs refers to attitude. William James, a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher, wrote, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”1

So much in life depends on our attitude. The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference. To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment.

Charles Swindoll—author, educator, and Christian pastor—said: “Attitude, to me, is more important than … the past, … than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.”2

We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude.

Believe in Yourself

B is for believe—in yourself, in those around you, and in eternal principles.

Be honest with yourself, with others, and with your Heavenly Father. One who was not honest with God until it was too late was Cardinal Wolsey who, according to Shakespeare, spent a long life in service to three sovereigns and enjoyed wealth and power. Finally, he was shorn of his power and possessions by an impatient king. Cardinal Wolsey cried:

Had I but served my God with half the zeal

I served my king, He would not in mine age

Have left me naked to mine enemies.3

Thomas Fuller, an English churchman and historian who lived in the 17th century, penned this truth: “He does not believe that does not live according to his belief.”4

Don’t limit yourself and don’t let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do. Believe in yourself and then live so as to reach your possibilities.

You can achieve what you believe you can. Trust and believe and have faith.

Face Challenges with Courage

C is for courage. Courage becomes a worthwhile and meaningful virtue when it is regarded not so much as a willingness to die manfully but as a determination to live decently.

Said the American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide on, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.”5

There will be times when you will be frightened and discouraged. You may feel that you are defeated. The odds of obtaining victory may appear overwhelming. At times you may feel like David trying to fight Goliath. But remember—David did win!

Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one’s coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve.

Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”

May we remember these ABCs as we begin our journey into the new year, cultivating a positive attitude, a belief that we can achieve our goals and resolutions, and the courage to face whatever challenges may come our way. Then the abundant life will be ours.

Here we go 2012, let's make it great!

Time With "My Kids"

2011-12-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

I went to Shannon's to spend the night with the kids while she and Arnold had a work Christmas party. We wanted to go see a movie and go drive through Christmas lights. I wanted to take them to Temple Square but the air quality was too bad and we have to be really careful with DJ's asthma so we couldn't go down there. We decided to go see Arthur Christmas. We went to Jordan Commons (my favorite movie theater), got our popcorn, cotton candy and drinks then went into the theater. The movie was super cute, I loved it.

I know I've said it over and over again, but these kids have my heart. They fill spaces in my heart I didn't know were empty until they came into my life. I cry with each one of their accomplishments. One, because we don't live as close as I wish we did so I can see them. And two, because I am so proud of them and the awesome little people they are.
Noah is such a tween but he still gets excited to see me. He will still let me love on him and still wants to show me stuff he can do. Elizabeth is such a sweetheart. She does have a sassy side but she is the sweetest girl. She's doing so well in dancing and started tumbling. She is working on her back handspring and aerial. She's so much fun and I love love love her giggle. DJ is still my little boy for the moment. He is growing up and I hate that. He is such a fun kid. He has a major shoe fetish and looks so cute in his skinny jeans. He still wants to play with me and first thing in the morning when we wake up, he wants to play and build his car ramp and jumps. He still wants me to hold him and I always will.
I hope that we will get to be parents one day but if that is not in our plan, at least I got to be something close to that with these kids.
After the movie, we headed down to Thanksgiving Point to drive through their Christmas light display since we can stay in the car and not be exposed to the bad air. We stopped at the Maverick and got some hot chocolate for everyone. We pulled into the lights and listened to Christmas music as we drove through. I've never been there before and it was pretty cool.

After driving through the lights, there is the story of our Savior's birth with pictures by Simon Dewey that I love.

We got back to Shannon and Arnold's and relaxed in front of the TV for a while. DJ fell asleep on my lap as we watched monster truck movies.
I came home Sunday morning after DJ, Lu and I built car tracks and spent some more time together. It was such a great weekend welcoming a new little life into our family and spending time with "my kids."

New Uncle & Auntie

2011-12-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

We have a new nephew! Austin and Alicia had Landyn Friday night, well early Saturday morning at 1:06am weighing in at 7lbs 12oz and 19 inches long.

We now have 2 nephews on my side and 3 nephews and a niece on Josh's side.

I stopped by the hospital Saturday morning on my way down to Draper to spend the weekend with Shannon, Arnold and my kids.

Alicia's grandparents were just leaving as I got there, so I got him all to myself. He is so squishy and cuddly. I got to love on him for quite a while and feed him a bottle. Austin was really good to just hand him over to me and let me take over while they watched TV.

Landyn Quinn Haslam

Even though I loved seeing our new nephew, I left the hospital feeling inadequate again for the countless time in my life. I was late getting down to Draper but had to sit in the car for a minute while the tears flowed before I got back on the freeway. I was going to spend the weekend with Noah, Lu and DJ and that made me happy.

Welcome to the world little Landyn!! Auntie and Uncle love you!!

Love Me Some Puppy Breath!

2011-12-03T23:33:00.000-07:00

So for Tara's 31st birthday, Cody wanted to get her a new pug puppy. He told her to get in the car a few days ago on a Saturday. Not knowing where she was being taken, she got in. They got to where the puppies were and she walked out with her new black pug puppy picked out. She wasn't old enough to leave her momma yet so she had to wait a few days before she could take her home.
Tara left work early on Thursday to pick her up and give the tiny, stinky puppy a much needed bath. Josh and I went over later that night to meet her and for me to take in a couple good doses of sweet puppy breath!
Tara named Athena after the greek goddess Athena, obviously. So she wanted another goddess name for this puppy. She and Cody talked back and forth about names and Tara finally decided on Phoebe.

It's a good thing Morgan left Ebony up here with Cody and Tara while she finishes up the semester at school and takes finals. Phoebe loves Ebony and Ebony loves Phoebe.

Welcome to the family little Miss Phoebe Belle! And Happy (early) 31st Birthday Tara!

Trying To Smile With Your Cheeks Frozen

2011-11-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

Tara wanted to do family pictures but we weren't able to do them in the summer like we usually do because Morgan was busy all summer and couldn't come home. So we had to put it off until Thanksgiving weekend. I was glad we didn't have any snow to go walking through, but it was freezing! We couldn't keep our hands warm and kept wanting to put them in our pockets.

They turned out pretty good considering how cold it was. We could only stand being outside for about 15 minutes so we busted it out!!

Giving Thanks.

2011-11-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

Josh and I decided to have a quiet Thanksgiving at our house this year. We have always tried to switch years with his family and mine. It never seems to work out when it's his family's year so we always end up at my family's, and I don't complain.:) But this year was Josh's year and we decided to stay at our house and have his mom up with us. It was just great. It was quiet and awesome.
On Tuesday night, we had Thanksgiving dinner with my family while my nephews were here. We had a great time with them and a yummy dinner my mom prepared for us. I made my great-grandma's creamed corn, which is my assignment every year.
Gavin and Branson love Josh. They just want to jump on him and play, and Josh lets them.

I love watching him play with them. I hate having to split the holidays or plan the holidays around when we have them, but they make it so worth it. I love those little guys so much. It was a great holiday with my family.
Rosie rode the Frontrunner from West Valley to Ogden and I picked her up. She was supposed to be dropped off in Pleasant View just north of Ogden and I drove around the area where the address was and did not see a train station anywhere. It was after 9 at night and was getting nervous for her being alone in the dark. She called me and said she got dropped off at the main Union Station in downtown, scary Ogden so I booked it there to get her. She told me she would stand under a street lamp and wait for me. I finally got to her and got her home!
We got up the next morning and I started dinner. We bought a smoked turkey that was delicious! I made PW's mashed potatoes and those babies were so dang good. You can't go wrong with butter, half and half and cream cheese. I know it's lame but I've never made mashed potatoes from scratch so it was kind of fun. I remember watching my mom do it all the time growing up.

I also made my creamed corn again, mashed sweet potatoes, then all the other fixings. We ate the delicious feast, then just relaxed and watched movies. It was perfect! I made a pumpkin trifle for dessert that was so good, too!

Here's some of the things I'm thankful for this day and everyday.
*My life*
*The Gospel*
*My Husband*
*Our Furbabies*
*Our Families*
*Our Jobs*
*A Warm Home*
*Our Health*
*Our Friends*
I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Dracula

2011-11-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

We went down to Cedar City this weekend to see Morgan in one of her last plays at SUU.
We headed out of town with Tara and Atty riding with us while Cody was golfing in Mesquite at about noon. The roads were okay, there was a big accident through Ogden so we got detoured but got to Cedar at about 6pm.

We went and checked into the hotel room and then went to get some dinner. Morgan needed some more tights so we ran some to her then went back to the room to eat and meet Cody.
We were going to the 11pm show so we just relaxed in the room with Cody's niece while his dad, brother and sister-in-law went to the 7pm show. I was dozing off a little bit on the bed while Tara watched movies with Eva. They came back and told us how it was and then we got ready for our showing. Somewhere along the way during the weeks before the play, we had heard that the 11pm show would be more gory so that's why we decided to go to that one. That apparently was not true, but we headed in. The theatre was really small, a lot smaller than I was expecting. It seated maybe about 70 people. The play was really good. Morgan did a great job. It was great to see her do what she loves so much.

We got back to the hotel after 1am and crashed. We got up the next morning, went to breakfast and then hit the road back home. It was starting to snow a little bit as we got back up towards home but nothing too bad.
We love you Morgan, you did great!

Snow, Snow, Snow.

2011-11-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

When I left work yesterday it was snowing pretty good. This was at midnight, so pretty and peaceful out there.

The view today.

The cats enjoyed basking in the sunshine coming in the window.

Snow storms are so pretty if I am able to be at home snuggled under a blanket with Josh and the animals. Just sitting on the couch. I hate that winter is here, I hate that it will be 6 months here in northern Utah until spring/summer arrives.

Family Weekend

2011-11-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

Austin and Alicia surprised us Saturday morning by coming up for a visit. We were being lazy and they hung out with us pretty much all day. We went to IHOP to get lunch and then came back to the house and everyone took a nap. Raedyn and I slept in the chair for a long time and I loved holding and cuddling him.

He loved loved loved when his Uncle Joshy got his guitar out and started singing. He is so cute!

Sunday was Josh's cousin's baby's blessing so we went down to South Jordan for that early in the morning. Their church starts at 9am so we had to be up and out the door really early, especially when we're used to 11am church. It was a great blessing and awesome to see a lot of the family there.
I'm so blessed to have my own awesome family, but then to be married into Josh's great family is just another blessing. I don't have the monster-in-laws and I'm so thankful for that. I love when we all get together.
After the blessing we headed over to Josh's Aunt Renee's house for the lunch. The food was so good, I could have eaten the desserts all day...so yummy! It was great to hang out with everyone.

Josh's cousin Ernie loves the babies!

And Raedyn and Ryan love him, too! Ryan is the little guy in Ernie's arms, he was the one who got blessed.
There are few people who I get excited when they get pregnant. Mark and Suzanne are those few. They had been married for over 10 years and tried everything they financially could to get pregnant and they never did. They quit trying. Then all of a sudden 3 or 4 years ago, Suzanne got pregnant with Bryn. She was such a blessing to them and is so cute. Then they got surprised with another pregnancy, this time a boy. Ryan is just the cutest little guy and is such a blessing to Mark and Suzanne. I'm so happy for them! I wish I would have gotten a picture of their cute little family but it was crazy.
We went by Shannon's to see her, Arnold and the kids before we headed home.
It was such a fun day and we were so happy we could be at Ryan's blessing.

While We're On The Subject...

2011-11-05T00:49:00.000-06:00

Here's some pictures of my past Disney trips, I cherish these pictures!
My Grandma took us all to Disneyland when I was about 3 and my brother was 6 or 7 months old. My poor mom, dealing with both of us in Disneyland without my dad!

My aunt Aspen and I on our first trip to Disneyland!

Aspen and Jedd

My mom sent this postcard home to my dad. I love it and love that they've kept it all these years.

Me, Jade and our aunt Amanda

Putting our toes in the ocean!

Then my second trip when our parents took us when I was about 11 or so.

(Welcome to my awkward years)

Fantasia Mickey!

Then the 3 of us crashed!

We also went to Universal Studios on this trip.

And Sea World.

I'm still working on getting the 2 tubs of pictures from our childhood scanned into my computer and I'm so thankful to have these!

Disneyland Day 3

2011-11-04T23:33:00.000-06:00

We walked into the park for our 3rd and final day. I loved the Halloween decorations and the character pumpkins at the entrance to the park. Minnie is of course my favorite.

We finally got a picture in front of the Mickey pumpkin!

We went to Minnie's to have breakfast with the characters. Oh my, it was the best breakfast we had while there. The french toast was delicious, they bake it with brown sugar on top!
We didn't see many characters while at breakfast. Captain Hook did walk past us and despite the effort of the kids around us to get him to stop, his chaperone said he'd be back. He never came back. There was one of the mice from Cinderella but that was about it.
Brodie enjoyed ripping apart the napkins and giving me the pieces, though. He is so stinking cute!

After breakfast we walked over to Frontierland and got on the Tom Sawyer ferry for a ride around the lost boys island.

We stopped in front of one of the stores in Frontierland for a show that Tristan got to participate in!

Those kids are so cute!

We walked back over to California Adventure and rode Soarin' Over California again, loved that ride. It's a motion simulated ride that takes you over parts of California like the vineyards and the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we went in to the Aladdin play. It was a very welcome play since we got to sit down! Our feet hurt so bad and I think all of us adults may have slept for a minute or two! But the play was excellent and the Genie was hilarious!
We were walking out as The Incredibles came down the street for a show.

The dreaded Tower of Terror

We went to the rest of the rides we wanted to ride and see before we had to leave. We had made reservations to eat at Goofy's Kitchen that night. We went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner.

They had mac & cheese pizza and PB&J pizza (my favorite!) and the rest of the buffet was good as well. It was fun for the kids to see the characters that came through.
We went back to the hotel for our last night and crashed. We were all so tired from our 4 days of Disney fun!

Here's the view out of our hotel room.

We woke up the next morning and got packed and ready to go home. I didn't want this vacation to end! But we got packed and down to the valet to get everything back into the van and headed back to Henderson.
While we were stopped at a gas station, Jaimee got a phone call from her sister telling her that their father was in the hospital with heart problems. It was very scary and he ended up having triple bypass surgery yesterday.
We were going to spend Sunday night at Jaimee and Jason's but decided to head back home when we got to their house. So we hung out with them for a while and then back on the road home at about 4pm Vegas time. Jaimee kept us up to date on how her dad was doing as we drove home.

It was a long day in the car but we were happy to get home to the furbabies we missed! We got home at about 2am and crashed hard. Luckily I took Monday off work so I could sleep in and get back into reality.
Disneyland was so fun, I want to go back every year! Josh and I haven't really been on a vacation since our honeymoon 8 years ago so it was great to get away for a few days.

Mickey's Halloween Party!!

2011-11-03T23:36:00.000-06:00

After we rested for a bit, we got dressed and ready for Mickey's Halloween Party. We walked back into the park and it was so crowded. We had to stop and get our wrist band and our Trick-Or-Treating bag and then into the park.
Alex was dressed as Minnie Mouse, Tristan was a vampire, Kaleb was Indiana Jones and Brodie was a bumble bee.

We forgot to bring a costume for Josh and I forgot to bring stuff for the rest of my cave woman costume that I borrowed from Tara. So I just put mine on over my clothes and we just drew on Josh's face.

We walked in and headed to the different Trick-or-Treating stations. It was so fun!
The first one we went to was in Pixie Hollow.

Alex, Josh and I were on a mission for the best treats, Reese's and Snickers.

We hit a few stations and then we happened upon a spot for the parade.

Checking out their candy.

And the bartering begins. We told the kids that we would all trade candy when we got back to the room later that night.

The Parade!

Peter Pan & Captain Hook

The Princesses!

Toy Story

The parade was so fun! Josh said he looked down at me as the Princesses we passing and I had a big grin on my face, I love the Princesses!

We walked around to more of the stations and rode some rides. We went on Alice In Wonderland and over to Autopia for the kids to drive the cars. Kaleb was my driver and I couldn't stop laughing! Those cars are hard to drive anyway but then add in a cute kid who can't quite reach the foot pedal and see over the steering wheel and it's so fun! I ended up pushing the gas pedal for him as he steered. We banged into the track the whole way around. Kaleb kept saying "I suck at this!". It was comical but a blast, he's so cute!

We walked over to Tomorrowland on our trek to find candy and saw Captain EO, the Michael Jackson movie. It was so bad, I was laughing out loud at how ridiculous it is. But I guess it is over 20 years old and the 3D in that movie was like cutting edge brand new then.
Then we looked at some souvenir shops and went on Peter Pan's Flight before we headed back to the hotel.

I loved the Mickey pumpkin at the entrance of the park...and so did everyone else. I wasn't going to pay the $25 or whatever it was or stand in the line to have our picture taken in front of it.

We were so tired. It was just about midnight by then and we were fighting to keep our eyes open. We had been in the park on our feet for just about 10 straight hours. Our feet hurt so bad! But it was such a fun day and I loved the Halloween party! If I lived in California near Disneyland, I would take my kids trick or treating there instead of around the neighborhood!

Disneyland Day 2

2011-11-02T23:24:00.000-06:00

Friday morning was supposed to be our early morning park entrance day, which means we get to go into the park at 7am before it opens up at 9am. We had plans of getting up early so we could hit the Matterhorn and some other rides that are so crowded and don't have fast passes. Jason was going to make sure we were all up. Well 7am came and went and we didn't get into the park until 10am, we were tired from the day before. Jaimee said Jason did get up early but decided to go back to bed.
We started our day in Adventureland.

We walked right up to Indiana Jones and there was no line. Just as we approached the pulled the ropes out saying the ride broke down, great. So we rode the jungle boat to waste some time.
We saw the elephants playing in the water.

The lion pride eating their latest kill.

And hippos.

We tried Indiana Jones again, still broke down. We headed over to the Haunted Mansion and luckily there wasn't much of a line. I loved it! It was all done up with The Nightmare Before Christmas.

It was a lot of fun and one of my favorites!
We went to go get some breakfast afterward. We got some yummy french toast and eggs by Indiana Jones, waiting for it to re-open. The ride was still shut down so the kids wanted to go ride Thunder Mountain. The name alone scared me. Then the kids told me it was one of their favorites and that scared me more. They assured me it was fun so I gave it a try. We left Brodie and our purses with Jason and got in line. It's a train that goes around a mountain really fast and it was awesome! I loved it! I wish we could have gone back to ride it again but the line was so long after that.
Then we headed over by Splash Mountain. Josh, Jason and the kids all got fast passes for Splash Mountain and had to wait a while for their time frame so we went on Winnie The Pooh. It was so cute!

As we were coming out of the tunnel, a bird pooped on the back of Jason's neck! Oh my gosh, we laughed so hard! Jason got pooped on in Pooh!

Josh, Jason, Alex and Kaleb went back to Splash Mountain and I went and walked through the gift shop for a minute. Then Jaimee, Brodie, Tristan and I went up in front of Splash Mountain to watch them come down.

Kaleb is in front and Josh is behind him "choking" him. Then Jason and Alex.
We got fast passes for Indiana Jones and walked over to Tomorrowland to check out Space Mountain, that line was always so long. So everyone who wanted go (not me) got fast passes and we went on Star Tours while we waited for their time. They finally got to ride it and Brodie slept in the stroller while we waited for them to come out. They loved it, I hate that roller coaster. Roller coasters and darkness do not spell fun for me!
We went into Innoventions and played for a while. We played on the Kinect, aged ourselves and looked at all the other cool things they had in there.

The Matterhorn

We walked back over to Indiana Jones for our fast pass time, shut down again. NO Indiana Jones for us.
It's A Small World was closed while we were there, bummer. I really wanted to go on it!

Then we headed into Toon Town!! I definitely remember Toon Town from being there as a kid, I thought it was so cool!

The Electric Door.

Tristan & Kaleb got put in jail.

Then we went to find Mickey. We had heard he was in his house so we went there. Josh is so excited!:)

Then we walked through Mickey's movie screening room where Steamboat Willie was playing and waited our turn to go in a meet Mickey!

We met Pluto.

And Kaleb got behind the wheel of a car.

There were some casualties.

The kids went and played in Goofy's backyard while we rested our feet. They had so much fun. Then we headed back to the room to rest and get some dinner before Mickey's Halloween party that night! We were all so excited for that!

Disneyland Day 1

2011-11-01T00:51:00.000-06:00

We got up early the next morning and headed into the park.

Mainstreet USA!

Walt Disney & Mickey

Cinderella's Castle

We walked in and there was no line for the Snow White ride so we hit that up and then went on to Dumbo. I know it's a kiddie ride but I loved it!

Tristan, Jason & Kaleb (but you can't see Kaleb) and Jaimee with Brodie. Alex was all by herself in the elephant in front of us.

Then we walked right onto the Mad Hatter. I remember this ride as a kid, I loved it!

We walked over to Tomorrow Land and went on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster, that was so fun!
We had no idea when they take the picture and I really sucked!

Then we got on the train that takes you all around the park.

Cute little Brodie!

Brodie REALLY wanted a drink of Jaimee's pop!

Them

I was in between Josh and Kaleb and everytime we would go in a tunnel and it was dark, Josh would touch Kaleb behind his ear or on his head trying to scare him...didn't work! The train ride was fun though just to see the whole park, but also to see all the places we needed to go!

We walked over to California Adventure to see what was going on there. There was a store that was called Off The Page or something like that that had some really cool stuff in there.

Jason was trying to get Brodie to stand and walk on his own. So cute!

I love the vintage Mickey stuff!

Then, they got me to go on the Tower of Terror. I don't like most rides, I know I'm a baby, but I told myself that I was going to be adventurous since we were there. I cried...for real. I HATE free-falling rides, HATE them. You go through the creepy hotel and then they put on an elevator and get you strapped in. As we were getting strapped in, the seat belts weren't what I was expecting knowing that you drop on this ride. They were just lap belts, so I'm thinking it might not be so bad. If I am going to be doing some free-falling, you better have me strapped in with shoulder straps not just a dinky lap belt. When the elevator gets up to the top, they open the doors just so you can see how far up you are...then you drop. When I go on rides, I have to wrap my arm around my waist and hook my finger in belt loops to hold my stomach in. I know it sounds weird but it helps me. As we dropped, I flew up off my seat and my glasses flew halfway off my face so I couldn't hold my stomach and had to hold those. Josh was squeezing my hand asking me if I was okay, I was in tears. Here's our picture, yep that's me in the pink.

Everyone else apparently loved it and wanted to go again with Jason since he sat out last time with Brodie. So after we walked through The Bugs Life area and got a yummy churro, they went again. I sat out with Brodie, Tristan and Kaleb.

We went on Grizzly Rapids after that. I was skeptical after The Tower of Terror. I don't care for the log ride at Lagoon but love Rattle Snake Rapids and this looked like a mixture of the 2. You get in the big tube with 7 other people and buckle in. You go up and down little hills and until the big one at the end. You get wet but it was really fun. I didn't take my camera with on that one. We all walked around with sloshy shoes and wet shirts for the next little while. We didn't want to go up the room to change because we knew we'd all lay down and not get up for a while.
Then we walked over to the pier. It's so fun over there. There's not as many rides as there is at Disneyland as they are still building it but it's really cool and fun.

We got on the big Mickey Mouse ferris wheel. I don't like sitting in a metal cage way up in the sky and really don't like sitting in one that slides and rocks as you go around but I got in. The first time around wasn't so bad but the second time we really slid and rocked from the speed. Scared me! Jaimee, Jason and their kids probably thought I was the biggest baby...and I am, I'll admit it!

They all got fast passes to get on California Screamin' before we got on the ferris wheel so they walked onto the roller coaster after we got out of our death cage. The roller coaster looks like fun and goes so fast! After you get on, it brings you nice and slow to the starting point. Then that thing shoots off so fast!

I don't think people buy these pictures anymore. Everyone crowds in front of the screen to take pictures with their phones and cameras. I had to fight to get my spot to take my picture of Josh and Alex.
We walked over to the other side of the pier to go through their newest ride, The Little Mermaid (one of my absolute fav Disney movies). Loved it!! Ariel is my favorite Disney princess and I love the music in that movie, takes me back to my childhood.

We went to the Bug's Life 3D movie "It's Tough To Be A Bug". It was all about how important insects are to the environment and it was interactive as in they spray you with "fogger" and blow air in your face and have bugs run under your seat, it was kind of scary actually but cool.

We went back up to the room at about 9pm, exhausted. Our feet hurt, our backs hurt but we had so much fun! We couldn't wait to go do it all again the next day.

Disneyland Bound!

2011-10-31T23:20:00.000-06:00

We got invited to go to Disneyland with Jaimee, Jason and their 4 kids, we couldn't pass it up! I haven't been to Disneyland since I was probably 9 or 10 and was so excited!
We knew we had a lot of driving ahead of us so we decided to leave for Vegas early (and I mean EARLY) Wednesday morning. I got up at 3:30 planning on leaving by 4am but we didn't finally leave until about 5am. The drive down went pretty quickly. I don't know if it was because of the time we left and the first half of it was in the dark but we go to Vegas by about noon.
This sign was on our way past the strip on the freeway, cracked me up!

We drove around over to Green Valley to Jaimee and Jason's neighborhood and Josh drove me all around where he grew up and lived. It's amazing he still remembers where all those streets are and the names of them! We got the Jaimee's house and started unloading our stuff while we waited for them to get home from work. Alex was showing us around and introducing us to their dog, Giselle while we waited for Jaimee and Jason to get home. After they got home and got all of their stuff packed and everything loaded, we headed for California! We watched Green Lantern and Thor in the van on the way there and that made the drive go by quickly. Their kids are so funny and kept us laughing.
As we were approaching Anaheim, I could hear Clark Griswold in my head from Vacation as they get to Wally World "We made it, Damnit, we made it!". I was so excited! We stayed in the Grand California hotel and so wish I would have gotten a picture of the lobby, oh it is awesome! These images from Google will have to do I guess. Even still though, I wish I had a wide angle lens with me to get a full view of just how beautiful it is.

Jaimee and Jason totally spoiled us by staying in this hotel and paying for our room because I don't think I will want to stay at another hotel when we go to Disneyland again, seriously. We valeted the van when we got there and didn't pick it up until we checked out 4 days later. We were able to walk into both parks so easily by staying there.
We got to our rooms and unloaded our stuff. Our rooms were joined together with bunk beds and a queen bed in each room. The bed was so comfy, I loved it. Alex slept in the bunk bed in our room with us. We walked down to Downtown Disney, I was like a little girl! It was late and most everything was closed but I just loved being there and couldn't believe we were there.
We walked down to the Disneyland gates, I was so excited for it to open in the morning!

We went back to the hotel and went to bed anticipating the fun 3 days ahead of us!

Time Flies

2011-10-25T20:51:00.000-06:00

I can't believe my cute little nephews are turning 2 and 3 this year! The past 3 years have just flown by. We were so happy to have them here during their birthday week. My mom made a good dinner tonight for us all and this awesome cake for the boys. They both love dragons.

After we ate, the boys played with the balloons my mom had hanging from the ceiling. These suckers stretched and the boys loved it!

Time to blow out the candles! The loved loved loved their cake! And it was delicious.

They loved blowing out their candles so much that they did it over and over a few times, with us singing each time. I loved seeing their excitement each time.

Then it was time for presents. They got a few books and a few toys and were just the happiest little boys ever.

Happy Birthday little guys. You are so loved.

Pumpkin Walk

2011-10-24T03:00:00.000-06:00

Since my nephews were here, my mom and I decided to take them to the pumpkin walk tonight after I got off work. My sister's friend Becky and her little girl Charly came with us. It was really chilly but I was excited to go since I had never been before.
It was packed but we found a parking space pretty quickly. They had a bunch of the wood cutouts for the kids to pose in. Here's Charly and Gavin in Clifford.

Branson really liked the lights.

Some of my favorite displays...
Angry Birds

Richard Scarry's Busy Town (loved these books as a kid!)

Gilligan's Island

Calvin and Hobbes

We took a break from the walk as soon as the kids saw the playground.

Then we got back in line for the end. Branson met the wicked witch and we saw my favorite display of them all!! Fra-jee-lay!

After having lived in Cache Valley for pretty much all my life and never been to the famous pumpkin walk, this will now be a tradition! It was so fun and fun to see all the different ideas people had.

The Brackin's

2011-10-23T22:29:00.000-06:00

I loved taking this family's photos...I was so nervous though. I love photography and I love creating things through the lens of my camera but I'm just a hobbyist, not a professional. So it's was kind of scary having someone ask me to be in control of something as valuable as family photos.
I've taken Tara and Cody's family pictures for the past 3 years but haven't been nervous about them. They are our best friends and Tara's too nice to tell me if she doesn't like them, plus I'd just make them do it again another day if they didn't work.
I've know Vicki and Austin since we were kids. These two have been together since 7th grade and as so cute together. Their kids are adorable as well.
It was freezing Saturday morning when we took these, and the kids weren't too happy at first. But after a little bit, they came around.

We went to a bunch of different locations and had so much fun! I asked Tara if she wanted to come with me, more to calm me and she was a huge help with getting the younger two kids to smile.
We got in their van to head up the canyon and on the way down Carson, the oldest, said "Dayne, you're such a whore!" Dayne is the baby. We laughed so hard at that, which probably wasn't helpful for Vick and Austin. They were shocked at first to hear that word come out of Carson's mouth, then Vicki asked him where he heard that word and he said "TV." Oh man, it was funny!
They are a beautiful family and I am so honored they asked me to take their pictures. It was so fun and a great learning experience for me as well! I love they way their pictures came out. Thanks Brackins!

Corn Maze 2011

2011-10-22T23:21:00.000-06:00

We made it to the Green Canyon corn maze again this year last night with Tara, Cody and Atty. And we had some add-ons that wanted to come with, Stacey, Kyle, Zane and Stacey's niece and nephew. Since it's getting more chilly, Josh and I wore our new hats my wonderful friend made for us. Let me know if you're interested in her stuff and I'll give you her contact info.:) I am totally in love with this owl hat and Josh's beard hat cracks me up!

We had so much fun and I'm so glad I wasn't the scaredy cat this year, Stacey had me beat by a long shot! We hadn't turned two corners in there before there was someone stalking us and Stacey was on the ground covering her head screaming! I thought she was tripped and hurt, but no, she was scared! After we got her up, the guy kept following us since he knew he was doing a good job of scaring her.

It was such a fun night with our best friends and our new friends!

A Walk In The Woods

2011-10-21T19:32:00.000-06:00

So after work today, I really wanted to go for a drive to see the fall colors again before they were gone. Josh was really tired from work last night and didn't want to go, so all by myself I went for a walk in the woods.
There is a trail up Sardine Canyon that I would see cars at a lot and wanted to know what was up there. So I parked the car and walked up to the gate. There was a sign that said "close gate behind you to keep wildlife off the road", uh, okay. Where in the world am I going?! So I opened it, went in and closed it behind me.

Wow, it's beautiful up there!

I walked up this trail toward the mountain. I only passed a couple of people on my way up who were on their way out. I was nervous to be out there by myself not knowing what was around me, but it was peaceful at the same time.

It was beautiful. I wanted to walk further up the trail but didn't dare to. Next year, after the snow melts.

FHE: Pumpkin Carving!

2011-10-18T20:52:00.000-06:00

We all decided that for FHE we would carve pumpkins! Angie & Rick came with Whitney and it was so much fun!

Whitney loved it...and she loved the suckers and the lemonade and Athena!

I usually get stressed out with how to carve my pumpkin and this year I just winged it, never done that before! But it worked out and I loved my pumpkin!

Josh's is the one on the left. He winged his as well, I think his turned out so cute!

It was a lot of fun being with our friends, listening to Halloween music and creating memories.

And now...we're off to Disneyland!!

A Bunco Halloween!

2011-10-17T23:54:00.000-06:00

This was the last month of Bunco for the year and it was my turn to host it. In our group everyone brings something to contribute to the meal and the host makes the main dish. Thanks to pinterest and my mom, I found these really yummy lasagna rolls to make.

And since it's Halloween, we all dressed up. It was so much fun! We've lost a few people through out the year but have added a few as well. Vicki's cute mom, Jolene, came this time to sub in for someone. It was so good to see her! She was my second mom growing up since Vicki and I were attached at the hip as kids!
We have such a fun group of girls and I love that most of us all went to school together!

Fall Colors

2011-10-09T22:56:00.000-06:00

As a kid growing up, we had to spend Sundays with our family. We couldn't go play with our friends and we hated it. It seemed like all of our other friends could all go do stuff together but we were stuck at home. Sometimes we would end up going on a Sunday drive somewhere. I remember one time we ended up in Jackson Hole. Those days always annoyed me back then but now looking back, my parents knew what they were doing, creating memories as a family no matter what we were doing. And to this day I love going on Sunday drives. Today after church, Josh and I decided to go on one of those drives. We wanted to go see the fall colors before they were all gone but wanted a change of scenery instead of Logan canyon. So we headed up to Porcupine Dam. The leaves haven't all changed yet but there were a few and it was beautiful.

It was such a pretty drive but the best part was just being with my best friend. Just the two of us and the iPod in the car, love it!

My Brother & His Boys

2011-09-30T22:15:00.000-06:00

My little brother and his wife separated during Labor Day weekend and my brother has moved out of their house. At first Brittiney was going to stay in their house where things are familiar to the boys but has since decided to move down to Richfield where her parents and sister live. It is going to be a long road getting used to this big change in all of our lives but I worry about my nephews the most.
We wanted to go get our family pictures this fall but with this new change, we decided not to . So we just took the boys and Jade to get some of them before they leave for Richfield. They'll come back up every couple of weeks for a few days at a time, so that will be good. My parents are going to have a hard time as well since they live just down the road from Jade & Brit's house and the boys run down several times a day to see "Bama and Poppa".
We went to Mack Park for some pictures. The boys didn't want to cooperate very much.

They wanted to play on the playground that we kept trying to distract them from.

We took the boys to get some dinner at McDonald's and let them play some more in the nasty playground there. We had a good time although the whole night was bittersweet. I can see the pain in my brother's eyes as I look back on these pictures. He knew his marriage was over but it kills him to be away from his boys, especially 5 hours away.
I don't do well with change either. I just want things to go back to the way things were, everyone together and happy. I wish the boys and Brit lived closer so we could see them more often but this is our new normal and we have to adjust to it.

Work Changes

2011-09-24T22:51:00.000-06:00

I have been working with Dr. Astle for almost 2 years and he has now decided to move his practice to Pocatello. I'm so sad to see him go. Iv'e learned so much from him over the past 2 years.
As his going-away present we got him a tie that we all signed and a package of Almond Joys, his favorites.

I'm now going to be working with one of the family practice doctors in our office. I'm kinda nervous just because I'm not used to family practice stuff. With neurology, it's the same thing most days. With family practice, it's different stuff everyday. Which will be good for learning more things and getting more experience, just nerve-racking for the first little bit.
It was sad to come in to Astle's empty office and to say goodbye to him. He asked me to go with him but I can't with Josh still in school...and I don't think I'd like Pocatello.

Sunset At The Temple

2011-09-17T21:56:00.000-06:00

Josh and I decided to go for a walk up on the temple grounds just as the sun was setting. This was our Friday night date, and it was beautiful. I can't wait til we can walk in those doors. Soon....just gotta keep working at it.

Labor Day Weekend With "My Kids"

2011-09-07T17:43:00.000-06:00

Shannon and Arnold had planned a trip to Vegas for Labor Day weekend to celebrate Shannon's birthday in August and for their anniversary in September and asked if I would come down and stay with their kids while they were gone. Uh, Yes!! I love these kids more than words can say and any time I get to hang out with them, I'm there. I miss them so much. That's been the biggest drawback of being back up in Logan, not seeing those kids everyday, going to dance practice with Lu, going to baseball games with Noah and missing DJ's first year playing baseball (since they have games on weekdays...stupid!). Those kids are "my kids" and I hate missing moments in their lives. Noah was at a baseball tournament in Spanish Fork all weekend so I never got to see him, sad. He's so dang good at baseball, I love watching him play.
Shan and Arnold were leaving Friday early afternoon and I would need to be down there to pick the kids up from school (something else that I miss everyday) so I took Friday off work.
DJ had a really bad asthma attack on Thursday ending up in the ER. The doctor advised them not to leave for the weekend...bummer. But I still went down and stayed with them and they could still have some time to go to dinner.
When I got there Friday afternoon, me, DJ and Lu played Sorry Sliders. It was so fun! These kids crack me up!

The game only lasted a couple of minutes then it was onto showing me their rooms. They get so excited when they can show me their clean rooms. Elizabeth and I always had battles when I was babysitting them, she is most definitely a girl and her mother's daughter at that. She messy (girl thing) and so sassy (Shannon's thing). And that's one of the many awesome things that I love so much about those girls.
We made our plans for what we were going to do for the next couple of days. The Smurfs movie was definitely in, Shannon told me she saved that movie for me!:) We had decided to have a family BBQ for Labor Day on Sunday since Shannon and Arnold would be here. The rest was just up in the air, whatever comes up.
Saturday morning we decided to go to IHOP for breakfast. I had the Cinna-Stack french toast with turkey bacon, I had no idea anyone served turkey bacon!! It was so busy in there and a girl was walking around making balloon animals for all the kids. DJ got a sword and Elizabeth got a monkey in a tree. DJ tore his apart in the first few minutes after we left and had more fun playing with what he was creating...and by sticking it up my nose!

We went back home after some makeup shopping to let DJ rest. He was still coughing a lot and he needed to get a neb treatment in. I know he's okay but it breaks my heart to see him so vulnerable.

Then we went to Smurfs!! We loaded up on popcorn, soda and cotton candy. The movie was actually really cute. I love NPH and Hank Azaria. The kids loved it.

While we were gone to the movie, Shannon and Arnold had gone to get DJ some new bedroom furniture. They got an awesome dresser that is so wish I had! We cleaned his room and washed walls and moved his room around. Shannon got him a new baseball comforter that had some of the MLB team logos on it.
Shannon and Arnold went out to dinner that night and the kids and I stayed in and watched Soul Surfer. That is such a good movie and made me cry! Then DJ wanted to watch some monster truck video and fell asleep on my lap in the rocking chair. I savor those moments so much. Sometimes I feel like these kids are the only thing close enough to having my own children that I'm ever going to have and want to soak them all in. I know one day soon, DJ is not going to want me to sleep in his bed with him when we have sleep-overs and isn't going to let me hold him and baby him the way that I do. I so don't want that day to come.
I slept with him in his little twin bed again that night. When he got up, he saw his new comforter for the first time and was so happy to see the (stupid)Yankee's on it. His father did grow up in New York and is a legitimate Yankee fan so I'll allow it.:)
We got the house all picked up and clean for the BBQ. Elizabeth and DJ and I made cupcakes for dessert.

Everyone came except Lucy, Austin, Alicia and Raedyn. DJ and I went outside to play while we waited for everyone to get there.

When Josh got there, DJ took him outside to play some baseball! DJ is a natural at this game, has been since he was 2...seriously. He was on a coach-pitch team this year and did well.

Then he wanted Josh to pitch to him. That kid was hitting balls so far! He started with the aluminum bat but had to switch to the wiffle ball bat so they wouldn't go so far. He was so funny, heckling Josh; telling him he didn't know how to pitch and wasn't pitching in the right spot. He gave me his stare down of intimidation.

Then DJ moved out front to ride his scooter. He so badly wanted to go to the skate park but until we could, he settled for using his dad's stuff to make his own jumps.

When the rest of the kids got there, they all went out to the swing set to play. I love all of these kids!

After the BBQ, Josh and I were getting ready to head home when DJ asked if we could finally go to the skate park. His dad agreed to take him and Elizabeth so Josh and I went to watch them before we headed home. This skate park was pretty cool. I remember as a teenager the kids in our town wanted a skate park and the city wouldn't allow it. So they made one wherever they could and got in trouble. Now they are everywhere and so much better. The kids love going there and DJ is quite the little dare devil. Elizabeth is a little bit more reserved and nervous.

Aren't these just the most awesome kids ever?! I love them so so so much!
We headed home and had such an emotional, devastating conversation. Just like all the other ones we have just like it.
We want a child so badly. Josh just wants to be a father. And I know he would be so good at it. He didn't have his biological father in his life except for when he was really little and then he was non-existant up until we got married. Rosie called and invited him and said we would be so glad if he came, I had never met him. He didn't show up. Then four years later, Shannon sees his obituary in the paper, he passed away from pancreatic cancer. We had no idea. Since Josh was a little boy he hadn't seen his father until his funeral. He wants so badly to be a better father than his father was to him. And I'm not saying his father wasn't a good father to the 4 children he had after Josh, that we didn't know existed until the funeral. He was a constant in their lives and was a good father to them. Josh just wants the chance. He sees his brothers with their children and so badly wishes and prays that he will get the chance one day. The same with me. I have such an unbreakable bond to Shannon and Arnold's kids that I feel like they are mine, too. I want to have the same feeling with my own children, ones that live with us. Ones that I get to read bedtime stories to at night, ones that I get to make breakfast for in the morning. Ones that we get to pack in the car and go on adventures with. Ones that we get to make memories with as their mom and dad.
I just cried all the way home. I know this is my test, but for the life of me I can't figure out why I would have chosen this in the pre-existence. Of course there are worse, much worse things to go through. But when it's all you want, all you think about. Why? Why would I want this heartache? Why would I want this feeling of not feeling whole all the time, that something is missing from our family? Why would I want this feeling of jealousy and bitterness toward everyone who has children or is pregnant? Why would I want to put my husband through this? I don't know. But I do know there is a reason. I just don't know what it is yet. And if it doesn't happen in this life, I have faith it will in eternity. Even though this life will be somewhat heart-wrenching to get through, it will be better in the next; or at least I will understand it.
Ok, that's another post for another time.
It was such a great weekend to be with "my kids". And to spend time together as a family. I'm so blessed to have my great family, and even more to have Josh's.

The Zoo!!

2011-08-30T22:46:00.000-06:00

Earlier this year Tara had told me that she hadn't been to the zoo since she was a child. We had to fix that! So she decided to take her little sisters with us for a girl's day. We got up early Sunday morning and headed down. It was supposed to be really hot so we decided to go a little earlier to escape the heat as much as we could.
I love these skunk-looking monkeys.

This vulture was in the dinosaur exhibit.

Then there's the elephants, one of my very favorite animals! If I could, I would have an elephant. The one on the left is Dari, she's the matriarch of the three. She is the oldest elephant in captivity in North America at 51 years old. The one on the right is Christie, she is the mom to the baby in the middle. And the baby is Zuri. She was the first African Elephant born at Hogle Zoo in 2009. She is so cute!!

We stood there and watched these guys for a good amount of time. I could have stayed there all day. The mom and the baby were being so cute.

We moved on through the zoo and go to the giraffes. These are another of my favorites.

We went over to the big cats. It was so hot out that they had misters all over misting the cats area to keep it cool.

Then we walked into the reptile house, you never forget the smell of that place!

When we got to the apes and orangutans, there was this CA.RAZY lady doing sign language to the ape that was sitting underneath his playhouse telling him to "come here".

We walked back over to the elephants. They were getting ready to do a show. Zuri was the star, showing off her tricks. Can I please, pretty please have one?!

After it was over, in came momma and grandma for a snack.

It was blazing hot outside so we decided to head home. We were hungry and decided to stop at Trolley Square to eat at The Spaghetti Factory, I love that place! We sat in the trolley and Tara's sisters thought it was pretty cool. We headed home with full bellies.
I love going to the zoo and I'm so glad that I got to go with Tara and her sisters. It was such a fun day!

Trip Back to Idaho Falls

2011-08-30T22:38:00.000-06:00

I went for a little day trip with my mom, Chelsie and Brian up to Idaho Falls to see the Bodies exhibit. We left early Saturday morning and stopped at a restaurant in Pocatello for breakfast that Chelsie and Brian had told us about. The food was really good and they had the most amazing blueberry rolls (like cinnamon rolls). Oh, they were to die for! And they each weighed about a pound!

We got back out on the road. The Bodies exhibit was so busy compared to what it was when Josh, Rosie and I were there the week before. We spent more time looking at everything. My mom and sister loved it and Brian was a little uneasy with some of it. We also walked through the Idaho history part of the museum, since it was in the Museum of Idaho! We were in there for a few hours and were done. I really wanted to go to the falls that run through the town and to see the temple. We walked along the river and looked at the fall and the temple as we got closer. They have different benches for different things about Idaho.

The spud bench.

The rainbow trout.

The Appaloosa horse.

The falls were pretty but that view with the temple in the background is just beautiful!

We headed back toward home and stopped in Pocatello to eat at Red Lobster, one of our favorites!

The ride home was so cool. There was a big thunderstorm coming in and we watched the lightning all the way.

I love when I can spend time with my family. I sometimes feel like, as the big sister, that I don't spend enough time with my little brother and sister. And that we are growing apart. But when I get to spend time with one of them we pick up right where we left off.

Jackson Hole

2011-08-25T23:44:00.000-06:00

It was such a beautiful drive from Yellowstone through Grand Teton Nat'l Park and into Jackson.

I love the Grand Teton mountains, they are so majestic and beautiful. On the way through the mountains of the Grand Teton Nat'l Park we saw a blinking construction sign that said "Bear with cubs, use caution". We had our eyes peeled to the woods trying to see them. Unfortunately we never did.
After a long day in the car, we were so happy to finally get into Jackson Hole. Wow, that place is just beautiful.
We checked into our hotel and went to find somewhere to eat. Found a nice local restaurant with home-cooked food that was delicious. We were all so exhausted that we just decided to go back to the hotel and rest for the night. I kind of regret that decision since it was the only night we were going to be in Jackson, it would have been fun to see the night life. But once we got back to the hotel, none of us were awake for very long!
We got up early Sunday morning to head home. We had breakfast and walked around the town for a little bit seeing what there was to see. I love all the hotel fronts and signs.

We went to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar that Rosie had told us about. She told us how crazy fun it gets in there at night. The bar stools are all saddles, so cool!!

Have to get the traditional pictures by the iconic elk horn arch! I love doing traditional stuff like this!

We headed home and enjoyed the scenery. We stopped at a camp ground just outside of Jackson along the Snake River that was so pretty! We really want to go camping there next year!
Josh got his moose hat as his souvenir in Jackson! He loves it and was so excited to find it! And he has a mouth full of sunflower seeds...a road trip must!

The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful except for driving under the world's largest elk horn arch in Afton!

It was such an amazing, memorable trip! There is so much to see through Yellowstone and Jackson and we definitely plan on going back to see more and more of it!
Thank you to Rosie for taking us on such a fun trip!

Trip To Yellowstone!! Day 2: Old Faithful

2011-08-24T22:10:00.000-06:00

So we got back in the car and headed down toward Old Faithful. It was a long drive but so very pretty. We ran into this beautiful girl just having herself a wade in the river. There wasn't very many animals to see on our trip so every time we saw one we had to get out of the car, and so did the rest of America who was in the park that day. She had herself quite the audience just watching her stand in the river!

We saw this lone guy walking through a field.

We finally made it to Old Faithful!

We walked around the shops for a minute to see if there were any cool souvenirs. We had no idea what time the geyser was supposed to go off and just slowly made our way out to it. It was great timing although there was a huge crowd and nowhere to set up my tripod without someone's head in the way. I tried it out for a minute and watched as the geyser teased us with it's short bursts of it's chambers filling up with water.

And with that stop we headed on our way out of the park and onto Jackson Hole. I wish we could have spent a week in that park, maybe next year. I loved it so much and can't wait to go again!

Trip To Yellowstone!! Day 2, pt 1

2011-08-23T00:08:00.000-06:00

So we got up bright and early Saturday morning to head into the park. I have never seen Rosie get ready so quickly in the 10 years that I've known her! We stopped at the local gas station to gas up before we headed in and I, being the idiot that I am, had left our tripod on top of the car (yes, I did it again) as we left the hotel. Luckily, it was still up there when we stopped for gas, Josh grounded me, yet again, from putting ANYTHING on top of the car. We got some hot chocolate (it was chilly at 8 am) and stopped at the golden arches for some quick breakfast. Then we went through the gates into the most beautiful park in America.
Oh, driving into the park first thing in the morning when it's still a little chilly out and the sun is coming out to greet you, it's just beautiful. Josh and I both agree that morning was the best part of the trip, just taking in the beauty God created for us.
Our first stop was along this beautiful, fly fishing only, river. It was so peaceful.

We saw our first wildlife in the park, a few elk.

We stopped at another beautiful river. It was so pretty.

The water was so crystal clear.

Roaring Mt.

There is literally steam coming out of it.

We went clear up the border of Montana to the Mammoth Hot Springs. They weren't too impressive at first. I thought they were dead.

It looked like the surface of the moon and the sky was so blue. (blogger doesn't do these pictures justice)

Then, around the corner is the first hint of a thermal pool, finally something!

Josh and Rosie didn't want to fight with the big group of people ahead of us all over the mountain so I went to explore the Canary Spring while they waited for me...for like an hour!

I passed the tour group as the ranger was talking about the different rocks and got to the top of a spring. I was so beautiful up there.

I got to Canary Springs and realized there was so much more that Josh and Rosie were missing. It's amazing and scary to me that this is just coming out of the Earth up there.

I got to the end of the walk-way and turned around to head back and ran right into the huge tour group. I tried to make my way through them without falling into the boiling thermal pools and not bump into anyone.
I met back up with Josh and Rosie and we finished walking through the springs, although the Canary Springs were the most impressive and active.

We headed back out on the road to go back toward Old Faithful. It was a long drive but we had so much fun together and the scenery was just the best part.

Trip to Yellowstone!! Day 1

2011-08-22T21:13:00.000-06:00

I was so excited when Rosie asked to take us to Yellowstone for the weekend for a little getaway. I had never been there and couldn't wait for our weekend trip to finally get here! We got all loaded up early Friday morning and waited for Rosie to get up here. We headed toward West Yellowstone and stopped in Idaho Falls to see the Bodies exhibit as we passed through.
It was really interesting to see the different systems of the body broken down and in the raw to see what it truly looks like and how it works. The circulatory system room was my favorite. They injected the veins throughout the body with some polymer stuff that hardens them and then they take everything else away so they veins, arteries and capillaries are all that are left stained red. There was a full body and a foot and arm. It was really cool. They didn't allow any photography in there so I couldn't get any pictures. The baby room was the hardest thing to walk through. There were little babies in jars from 9 weeks up to 22 weeks gestation. They were so small and I had to fight back the tears knowing what our miscarried baby would have looked like.
Then we headed back out on the road toward West Yellowstone. The eastern part of Idaho is not pretty. We saw some windmills, they freak me out.

Went past Rexburg and the temple.

It was quite boring until we could see the Grand Tetons in the distance. Those mountains are beautiful.

Then we got to Ashton right before you finally get into some woods up through Island Park.

Josh and I were laughing while we drove through because it looked like it was straight out of the movie The Great Outdoors with John Candy. It was really pretty though.
I loved how these clouds are all flat on the bottom and fluffy on top.

We finally rolled into West Yellowstone, MT at around 6:30. We got to our hotel and got unloaded. So happy to be at the hotel! (sorry, high ISO = really grainy)

We rested for a bit and then decided we better hit the town to find somewhere to eat. We decided to go to a pizza joint. There was a little casino in the bar part of this place and we saw this awesome sign!

There are some interesting motels in that town. I thought this color tv sign was so cool.

We went back to our hotel room for the night and prepared ourselves for the fun day ahead of us! I was so excited!

The Frayer's Visit!

2011-08-16T23:15:00.000-06:00

We were so excited when Jaimee told us she was coming to Provo for the weekend. We haven't seen her and her family for about 5 years or so and we miss them so much. She was staying at her sister's house for a week before school started back up so we headed down to Provo on Saturday.
Josh and Jaimee have been friends since they were 12, the same age as Jaimee's oldest, Alex. It's crazy to think of them being so young and being friends all these years later.
Jason, Jaimee's husband, was going to try to come up from Vegas on Saturday but didn't make it because of work. We would have loved to have seen him. Jaimee and Jason are those types of friends who you consider some of your very best friends even though you may not talk to them for months or don't see them for years. It doesn't matter how much time has passed, we just pick up where we left off and it's like no time has passed at all. I love seeing them. I wish we lived closer together.
They had a baby boy about a year ago. We usually try to get down to Vegas soon after they have a new baby but we never made it this year so we were excited to finally meet little Brodie. Oh my goodness, he is adorable. He was scooting around the kitchen in his little walker and Josh came around the corner and picked him right up. Brodie was not happy about that at all! He was leery of Josh after that even though they tried everything to get him to like him. It was so good to see their kids again. They are getting so big and I feel bad that we've missed so much of their childhood.

While the kids were all playing and Brodie was sleeping, Josh, Jaimee, Teri and I sat around the table with a big bag of trail mix and talked. We got on the subject of whether or not Jaimee and Jason were going to have another baby. I didn't understand why at first, but Teri got really uncomfortable and tried to change the subject. She did it for us. She didn't want to make us uncomfortable or feel bad. I was so taken aback that someone was thinking about us in that type of a situation for once. We told her it was okay. There are people who those types of conversations bother me and get me upset but not with Jaimee. I've never been that way toward her and Jason. We talked about our situation and what was going on. We talked about adoption and if we had considered that, and we have. It is something we really want to do and are beginning to prepare to make those steps. Teri told us about her husband's adoption as a child from Samoa and it was amazing. It was hard for me and I guess still is, to think I may never get to feel my baby inside me. I may never get to have that amazing, special experience of pregnancy and everything that goes along with it, the good and the bad. Slowly though, that is becoming easier for me to accept. We want children, no matter how they get here. It was a great afternoon spent with great friends having a very real conversation.
We went out to dinner with Jaimee's family to Rubio's before we headed home. I hated leaving them. I wish we could have stayed all night and talked into the wee hours of the morning. We are trying to get Jaimee and Jason to move back up here and they are trying, too. Hopefully soon!
Jaimee's sister, Julie, took a photo of us and the kids before we left. The boys were pulling faces and making their mom mad!

Then we got one with Jaimee in it. Oh, I love them.

Fun Times At The Fair

2011-08-13T22:51:00.000-06:00

When the fair comes to town, it's a big deal. You gotta go out and see what new thing they will think of to fry and what cool things they are selling this year, and of course to get yourself some good carni food. Tara and I decided to leave the boys at home and to have a girls' night out...at the fair.

We made the loop around to see what was there and got ourselves a mug of vanilla cream soda. Along with the normal fried twinkies and oreos, they had fried coke. Yep, coke.

Tinsel and feathers are such a big thing right now to put in your hair and we didn't see any feathers that we would want to pay the ridiculous prices they were asking for at some booths so we decided to get some tinsel in instead. She got purple and I, of course, got pink.

We walked through more booths and got ourselves some deliciously fried funnel cakes with cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar. We sat down to eat and had ourselves some good people watching. Oh those funnel cakes were yummy!

We walked through the quilting area to see the ones that had won ribbons. I so wish I knew how to quilt and sew!
It was good to get away just the two of us to have some good girl talk that we can't have at work or with the boys.

Bright Eyes

2011-08-13T01:21:00.000-06:00

My brother and sister in law invited Josh and I to go see Bright Eyes in SLC at the Twilight Concert Series in Pioneer Park. We have said we really wanted to go see him if he came to town so we were excited! We got down to Salt Lake and went to an early dinner at California Pizza Kitchen before we headed into the park.
There wasn't a big crowd by the stage yet so we were able to cradle ourselves against a big tree so we would have enough room throughout the concert and not get swallowed in the crowd. Wild Nothing was the band that opened up for Bright Eyes. They were okay, really 80's. We were all so excited for Conor Oberst to come out and when he finally did, it was awesome...except for the multiple smoke clouds that went up throughout the crowd.

The crowd kept getting larger and larger up where we were and apparently we made the walkway for everyone going to get their beer and coming back. And when people would come back, they miraculously found a whole bunch more friends to squeeze up by us, I was so irritated and couldn't fully enjoy the concert.

It got to the point of us leaving when a guy who is a good foot taller than Brittiney came and stood in front of her. She asked him to move so she could see and he ignored her and then I was enraged. Of course we were yelling because it was so loud but he was so arrogant and ignorant to the two of us asking him to please move and not come stand in front of her. We had been in the same spot since 5:30 and it was now about 4 hours later and people were crowding and squeezing more and more around us. He was such a jerk and Josh didn't want us to get in a fight so we walked out of the park and back to the car. I was so mad we had to leave because judging from his set lists from other concerts leading up to that one, our favorite songs were coming up. It was such a good concert though.

8...

2011-08-09T22:00:00.000-06:00

I say this every year and as the number of years increases, I still say it. I can't believe we've been married for 8 years but yet it feels like an eternity at the same time. I'm so blessed and lucky to have such an amazing husband. Josh, you are my everything. You make me so happy. When I have my dark, depressed days, you are always my ray of sunshine that shines through, pulls me out and makes me laugh.
To celebrate our 8th anniversary, I took the day off work and we just spent the day together. Didn't go anywhere fancy or have any great plans, just the two of us being together. I did want to go up to where we went camping last month to get a picture of the tree Josh carved J+K into. I'm a blonde and forgot to get a picture of it before we left camp so we headed up there after Josh slept for a few hours after getting home from work. On the way up we experienced a bull fight. These two white bulls were butting heads for the 20 or so minutes we sat (safely in the Jeep) watching them. The females in the herd were not happy and one just kept bellowing like she was yelling at them to stop. And a few babies almost got ran over by the two of them a few times throughout their fight. They broke up for a minute and one looked straight at us and we decided we need to move up the mountain.

We got to the spot and got the tripod set up to get pictures. There were not any mosquitoes this time but were a lot of flies and Josh hates flies just as much as mosquitoes so we had to hurry.

I love that he carved this into the tree. I've always wanted to have our initials in a tree somewhere. When I was little and we would go to my Great Grandpa's cabin, all of the couples names were carved into the aspen trees up there and I wanted to have my name carved in a tree when I got married. We have been to the cabin once since we were married and never carved our names anywhere so I guess this makes it officially our first tree.:)
We drove back to Logan, had dinner at Chili's and went home. We just relaxed on the couch the rest of the night. It was a perfect day.
Happy 8 years, Honey. I love you.

"Love is old, Love is new, Love is all, Love is you."

Elements

2011-08-02T21:05:00.000-06:00

All were experienced on a beautiful ride home from my parent's house last night.

A beautiful ending to a great day with my family.

Family Visits!!

2011-08-01T23:29:00.014-06:00

My Uncle and Aunt come out to visit our family from Minnesota and I was so excited to see them! I hadn't seen them for years. When Sheadon was born was about 12 and they lived in Ogden. I went to stay with them for the weekend and just thought he was the most perfect baby ever. I fell in love with his perfect little baby face. And then Kalie came along and again, she was the most perfect baby ever. Their feet never hit the ground when I was around. I loved holding them, bouncing them and giving them bottles.

Chelsie, Me, Kalie, Sheadon and Jade circa 1996

I love those two and my Aunt and Uncle so much. I hate that they have lived so far away for the past decade or so and we haven't seen each other very much so it was so good to visit with them. They are so much fun to be around and are 2 of the best kids. Sheadon just started his freshman year of college in Minnesota and is going to be a physical therapist and Kalie just started her junior year of high school.

Branson warmed right up to them and had to show Aunt Jolene his muscles.

Kalie is gorgeous and wants to be a photographer and I love my Uncle Lynn.

Sheadon is such a cute kid and is hilarious! And their dog Mosey is so cute.

I love my family! Next time we all need to plan a trip out to Minnesota to see them, it's definitely going to be in the summer though!

Famous Preston Parade & Carnival

2011-07-31T22:25:00.003-06:00

My sister in law has started selling Usborne books and had a booth up at the sidewalk sale for the Famous Preston Rodeo weekend. I was going to babysit the boys on Friday after I got off work but they all got sick with a nasty stomach bug so she didn't go Thursday or Friday. They started feeling better on Saturday so she asked if I would come up on Saturday instead.
I had so much fun spending time with them. We watched 101 Dalmatians and played and played. Gavin was feeling fine but Branson still wasn't feeling very good so he didn't eat very well. We met Brit in time to watch the parade in front of where her booth was on Main St. I hadn't been up to that parade, carnival or rodeo since I was just out of high school...a long time ago. So it was kind of bizarre to be back up there and see how much the town has NOT changed.
When we got to the booth, she had 2 bags of cotton candy for the boys. Gavin devoured his in seconds, he loved it!

Our valley regular, Brent, was there. He is always out riding his bike, honking his horn and waving to everyone no matter the season. Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall he's out there making people smile.

Then the parade started.

All the kids went crazy for the candy and rushed the streets.

Chelsie and I were on candy patrol for the kids and caught Gavin a Nut n Honey. He loved eating it.

And then this came down the road and I had no words.

The parade got over and Gavin was so excited to finally see his mom. He just wanted to touch her.

About half way through the parade I looked down and saw something down the back of Gavin's back. I thought it was candy slobber from Branson but then figured out it was vomit. Apparently Branson wasn't feeling very well. We wanted to go to the carnival with the boys afterward so we had to go back to Franklin to change Branson. In the madness of getting the boys back in the car and getting out of town I put my camera on the top of my Jeep. I didn't realize I left it up there until after we got back to Brittiney's and felt in my pockets for my keys and felt my lens cap. Then the immediate thought of "where is my camera? oh my gosh, i left it on top of the jeep!" came to my mind. I almost had a heart attack. I ran outside and by the grace of God, it was still on my roof up against the luggage rack. I don't know how it stayed up there going 65 mph down the highway but it did. It scared me so bad! I would have been inconsolably devastated. My camera is my most prized possession. It's kind of become part of my identity that I see of myself, camera always in hand. I would be lost without it.
After we got the camera off the roof, we took the boys back up to the carnival. Brittiney decided to let them ride the monkey train. Gavin started crying before he even got on the ride, he was not a fan. Branson wasn't so sure of what to think either. Gavin was reaching for Brittiney with big tears just streaming down his face.

After we succeeded in traumatizing the boys, we walked around, got a hamburger and a drink before we headed home.
I had to go home and tell Josh what I did to the camera. He was just as shocked as I was that it stayed on the car. I don't know what I would have done if it fell off. I just imagined where we pulled away in Preston and my camera falling and shattering on the ground or falling off the roof going 65 mph down the highway and it bouncing and breaking down the road. Other than that little mishap, it was so fun to experience the parade and carnival with my nephews!

Nephews At The Park

2011-07-26T20:44:00.002-06:00

My mom was watching Branson and Gavin while Jade and Brittiney went to the Katy Perry concert so I asked if she wanted to bring them down to Logan and we could take them to the park or something. We decided to take them to Wendy's to eat some lunch before we went to the park. They did really well eating their lunch for the first 20 minutes or so, then it was a 3 ring circus. Gavin thought it was so funny to have his fries dipped in ketchup, he giggled every time. Branson is not a good eater but did pretty well through the first little bit then it was time to go to the park. He just couldn't wait to get there. We went to the park by our house. I don't know why the people who design the parks think it's a good idea to put bark down under all the toys and to not have any shade on the playground, none. It was so dang hot! We lasted at the park for about 15 minutes before we couldn't handle the heat anymore.

Branson was so proud of himself for climbing and going down the big slide.

So we moved to another park looking for some shade. We didn't find very much of it, but there was a cool dinosaur fossil underneath the playset! Branson is very into dinosaurs and loved this!

Branson played on this caterpillar part of the playground and didn't want any help climbing it until he had to climb up. He did fall once but did pretty good for a little guy.

We played on the playground for a little bit longer before the heat got to be too much. But it was fun to spend the day with them and my mom.

Family Fun on the 24th

2011-07-25T20:28:00.001-06:00

There was a family reunion for Josh's Grandpa Jolley's side of the family on Sunday. And since we hadn't seen Harry Potter 7 pt 2 yet, we decided to go see it at Jordan Commons in Sandy on the way down to the reunion. I love that movie theater and really miss going to movies there when we lived in Sandy. We got there just in time to get our lunch of cheese burgers and shakes (yeah, you can eat food INSIDE the theater!) then went into the movie. It was so good. I'm so sad the movies are over. I loved the books the most, the books are always better, but the movies were great.

Josh doesn't know any of those relatives really and it was the first time we ever went to that reunion so we didn't know what to expect. It was up Cobble Creek Canyon in Springville at the Jolley Ranch (apparently no relation). It was really pretty up there. They had just got done eating lunch and taking the family photo when we got there. We were nervous and didn't have any cell service so we didn't know where Rosie was. We didn't want to just walk up to the pavilion without knowing anyone so it took us a while to get out of the car, we're awkward. We did find Rosie and felt more comfortable. They started playing family bingo, which we did not play so we played with Raedyn instead.

We hung out for a little bit and got some family pictures taken, we were just missing Shane and his family.

It was fun to see our family and to spend time with them.

Porter Family Camping Weekend of Fun: Day 2

2011-07-21T23:08:00.002-06:00

We got up the next morning and it was our turn to make the meal. We chose to make blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and sausage. The eggs looked a little weird after being cooked in the bacon and sausage grease but they tasted good!

After breakfast we got washed up and cleaned up the best we could with baby wipes. We look pretty!

Since Jade and Brit weren't there and the mosquitoes were terrible, we decided to take a trip to Bear Lake for a few hours. My dad stayed behind to take a nap with Roxy since you can't have dogs on North Beach. As we were on our way down off the mountain, we ran into Jade and Brit. They came back for the day so Josh and I decided to go to Minnetonka Caves with them instead of Bear Lake. We got up to the caves at 1:30 and it was so crowded they were selling tickets for the 4:00 tour, not gonna happen. So Josh and I went for a drive around Bear Lake.

I really wanted a fresh raspberry shake so we stopped for one. After I ordered it, they pulled raspberries out of the freezer in a Wal Mart bag. I was disappointed but the shake was good. The lake is so high this year. My mom, Chelsie and Brian tried to go to North Beach but they wouldn't let them on the beach because they said it was at capacity, never heard that before! People were pulled over on the side of the road on the little pull-offs playing in the water.

We went back to camp to meet up with everyone. My mom, dad and I decided to go for a walk with Branson to take him to the ice cave.

Branson is really into "Up" right now and he always talks about "the mean man" from the movie. Well on our walk we found a tree that Branson thought would belong to the mean man so we had to stop and look at it.

Branson thought the cave was so cool. He thought that is where the dragons live and was trying to find baby dragons everywhere. It was really neat in there. It was actually the one place where there were no mosquitoes since it was so cold in there.

We went back to camp to start making dinner. It was Mom and Dad's turn and they made yummy dutch oven chicken (for me) and ribs (for everyone else) and potatoes.

The boys played and got more dirty and Gavin used Josh as a jungle gym again.

yep, those bumps all over his forehead are mosquito bites, poor kid

Roxy was on guard all weekend. When my Mom and Dad got back to their house, they said she slept for hours and hours finally relaxed.

Dinner was delicious. Jade and Brit packed all that they could fit in their car to go home that night and the rest of us would take what was left home in the morning. Josh went home with them. He is not much of a camper, or is just a 1-night camper. The rest of us all sat around the fire for the rest of the night, scaring ourselves. When we went to bed, I pointed my flashlight out into the woods to check on things and there was a big buck and a doe circling our camp. We watched them make their way down the road and then went to bed. I was scared sleeping by myself in the Jeep. My mind is really bad at scaring me and I can't shut it off. My iPod was just about dead so I listened to music until it died and I finally fell asleep. We got up in the morning and got everything packed up to go home.
It was such a fun weekend to spend with my family, totally disconnected for 3days. I loved it and can't wait for next year.

Porter Family Camping Weekend of Fun: Day 1

2011-07-20T16:56:00.006-06:00

We planned a weekend of camping with all of my family. Everyone was able to get work off and it would be the first time my nephews went camping. My dad wanted to take us to Bloomington Lake were we went last year for a day trip. Since it got warm late this year, there was still snow up there so we had to come up with a plan B. We decided to go up Paris Canyon. My parents went up a few days before we were to set out on the camping trip to find us a good spot. They found a great spot but told us to bring mosquito spray. We got up there Friday morning and could not believe the amount of mosquitoes up there. I've never seen anything like it. We had fogger that we sprayed Friday night and we were constantly spraying ourselves with bug spray for 3 days.

Here's how Josh dealt with the mosquitoes. The poor guy swells up so big when he gets bit by one.

We got up to camp and got everything set up. Josh and I slept in the back of our Jeep. We don't tent camp much anymore since we can fit back there, plus we can turn the heat on during the night when we get cold.

Branson and Gavin loved it! Branson was excited to sleep in a tent at night with him mom and dad.

My mom and I took Branson for a little hike to see what was around us. He found a big rock that he fell in love with. He thought he was the coolest thing standing up on top of it.

Gavin is a crazy baby and into every.thing. Constantly. And he loves loves loves to hang on Josh.

He is so cute.

My dad was so cute and found Branson some "dinosaur" bones. The kid is obsessed with dinosaurs and dragons. He showed everyone his bone that Papa found him.

My dad got the fire going to try to get the mosquitoes to go away and to get dinner going. We roasted hot dogs Friday night. Dad has lots of helpers to get the fire going!

After we ate, the boys got changed into their jammies and we all sat around the fire. Gavin went out pretty quickly.

Branson thought it was time to make "Bamma" be a monkey. It was hilarious! She had to go cross-eyed and make monkey sounds. We tried to teach him how to make the sounds, too. We had to do monkey motions with our arms, which apparently I didn't get right according to Branson.

As it got later, the fire got bigger. I love sitting around a campfire in the dark, it's hypnotizing.

My dad, brother and Brian decided that it would be a good idea to go walking down to the Ice Caves...in the dark. We sat around the fire for a little while waiting for them to come back. Then we started hearing what sounded like wolves howling but we knew it was them, still made me nervous though. They finally got back and Josh and I went to bed. We got woken up at about 1:30 in the morning to Jade and Brittiney's car doors opening and closing since they were right by us. The boys were crying and were cold in their tent so they took them home.

Backyard BBQ

2011-07-07T22:32:00.000-06:00

We had a little BBQ at my brother's house, for no reason except to have one. The boys were playing in the backyard with a few of the neighbor girls having the time of their lives.

We ate then went out back to sit around the fire, talk and eat s'mores.

Josh enjoying some family time before going to work.

When did this baby become a little boy?

And this baby? He just cracks us up.

These two boys are getting so big, time goes by too quickly.

We loved making s'mores.

I know Josh and I won't always be living here and once he's done with school at the end of this year, we have to go wherever he gets a job. But I'm thankful to live so close to my family and for my nephews to know us. They both just LOVE Josh. Branson had to go for a ride down the street with us before we could leave last night and thought it was so cool to be riding in Josh's "truck" (jeep). He loved it.

4th of July: Pt 2

2011-07-03T19:33:00.002-06:00

Tara and I wanted to go to the pool Friday afternoon but I didn't get out off work in time so we went Saturday morning. We both got scorched on our front and oddly nothing on our backs! We had some good girl time though and the pool was pretty empty. Josh and I sat around most of the day after that. The Cruise In was in town and we are always locked in our house during the parade. Since Main Street is shut down for 3 hours, everyone uses our street and it's like a parking lot. We finally got out at 9pm and went back over to Cody and Tara's to light our fireworks.

I love taking pictures of them, just to see what I get! We started out behind their complex. We had quite the little audience of kids that kept chanting "do more, do more!" but decided we better move so we didn't start one of the houses or the field on fire.

We moved out by the street and lit the rest of them.

There was a group of people down the road from us who were lighting off the big fireworks and we felt pretty pathetic with our popping fountains...until they started themselves a fire in the field that they quickly put out!

We had fun watching our little firework show.

It was a great weekend celebrating our freedom and the birth of our country. We honor and thank our service men and women who sacrifice their lives to keep us safe and free on this Independence Day. We are so blessed.

Happy 4th Of July!

2011-07-02T20:49:00.003-06:00

I love having three day weekends! I love the holidays that afford us to do that. Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. I'm proud to be an American and I am so thankful to the men and women who make the sacrifice everyday to keep America what it is today, a free country.
It was my turn to stay late at work on Friday. I didn't get out until almost 5 and got the biggest surprise when I got out, all I can say is we have great best friends who love us. Thank you Cody and Tara!!
We headed over to Cody and Tara's house after I got off and had a delicious steak BBQ, and then headed out to go get some fireworks and to go save our spot for the fireworks that night. Dr. Welter took us 3 girls out to Mo Bettah' Steaks for lunch and we had the BEST authentic Hawaiian shaved ice! Oh my gosh, those things are a delicious piece of Heaven. It's not like the shaved ice at those little roadside rainbow booths either. So after we got some of our fireworks, we took the boys to go get another one, and they were not disappointed either!

We went back to our spot we picked out at the church to watch the fireworks.

Cody and Josh got the poppers out and started throwing them at Atty's back and they popped so they had a competition to see who could pop the most off his back.

Tara brought cards to play Sevens to pass the time waiting for the fireworks. I had never played before and am not much of a game player but that game was fun. Then the fireworks started.

They were beautiful!! We laughed so much and had such a fun night.

Sunday Drives

2011-06-26T22:24:00.000-06:00

I love nothing more than (well there's a lot of things "I love nothing more than" but this is one of my very favorites) getting in the car with my best friend and going for a drive to explore what's around us.

Today we saw the beautiful Wellsville mountains from a distance. I like seeing the snow melting down their crevices, it means Summer just might be here to stay a couple months.

We saw this cute baby horse.

There's just something about being in the car with my husband that is so comforting to me. Just the two of us, talking about everything that comes to mind and jamming out to our favorite songs. I feel like this is where I belong, by his side. And it's my favorite place to be.

Summer Is (finally) Here!!

2011-06-25T20:32:00.002-06:00

The weather has finally been beautiful for the past few days and I love it!! I took work off yesterday since my doctor was out of town and had an awesome day. I slept in (yay!!) except for Josh's work alarm going off on his phone in the other room and the dang thing doesn't turn itself off if it goes for so long, nope just gets louder and Josh continues sleeping. And once Ringo heard it, we were up...at 6:22am...on my day off. Once he had an empty bowel and bladder and a full tummy, we got back into bed with Josh and it felt so good. I got up and went running at 10:30 before it got too warm and got myself a nice little sunburn that I didn't know about until later. Josh and I went to a movie, Super 8... super dumb movie.

I wanted to go to the pool to lay out in the warm sunshine. I always hate going hoping to be able to find a chair. It was packed but I did find one. I put tanning lotion on, put my iPod on shuffle, earbuds in my ears and enjoyed the hour to myself lying there in the warmth. I didn't realize how much sun I got until I got home and in the shower. The burn feels good, though! The tops of my shoulders, chest and neck really got it from the run in the morning and then at the pool.

We went up to my mom and dad's for a BBQ for my little sister's birthday on Monday.

She wanted steaks and dutch oven potatoes for her birthday dinner. A storm had just got done blowing by their house when we got there and, I swear, it was 15 degrees colder. We all had to move inside while my dad and Uncle Garth got the fire going again. It warmed back up and we were able to eat outside.

Dad making the dutch oven potatoes, with Branson's help. (Yep, we're red neck and put the dutch oven in a wheel barrow to stir it up.)

We ate about 2 hours later than we wanted to, but it was really good. I love getting together with my brother and sister, we always have so much fun. Even though life has taken the 3 of us in our separate directions, we always pick up right where we left off and laugh and laugh.

I love when the tulips come up because it means winter is over and spring is on it's way, even if it takes a long time like it did this year. But I really love when my peony bush blossoms. It means summer is here and it really took a long time getting here this year. It's amazing that these flowers start out as these tight little buds.

And then they turn into these gorgeous, huge flowers.

I got on facebook tonight and Chelsie had uploaded a picture she took of her peonies today, too! Same color and everything.

I love my grape vine, too. It's coming up so thick and pretty.

Father's Day

2011-06-20T20:52:00.000-06:00

We wanted to have a big fun BBQ for my dad for Father's Day, but the weather didn't want to give us a break. For Mother's Day, the weather was crappy and Mother Nature didn't want to let Father's Day off the hook apparently. We had the BBQ at Jade and Brit's thinking we could all go out in the back yard and play but instead it rained and rained and was windy. Jade and my dad manned the grill and the food was really good.

My cute parents.

Later, I went down to Brigham City with my parents to see my Grandpa. We had a great time visiting with the aunts, uncles and cousins. On the way home we stopped by to see the progress on the temple. It's beautiful!

We got up to the summit of Sardine Canyon at just the right time, the rain clouds and sunset were gorgeous!

People were pulling over behind us to get a shot of the beauty, too.

It was a great day to celebrate the fathers in my life. Father's Day is always a tough day for Josh. His father wasn't in his life after his very early childhood. We invited him to our wedding, Rosie actually spoke with him on the phone in front of us to personally invite him. For whatever reason he didn't make it. We didn't have any contact with him after that until we saw his obituary in the paper in June 2007 having passed away from pancreatic cancer. We attended his funeral and found out Josh has 4 younger brothers and sisters. I think it was tough for him to find out his father had 4 other children and didn't ever want to be in Josh's life. Josh had his step father to kind of fill the "father" role for him but he and Rosie divorced and we haven't kept in touch with him for multiple reasons on both ends. So I feel bad for Josh. I wish I could make him a father so we could make better memories for Father's Day instead of it a reminder of the father he never had.

Happiness

2011-06-05T22:54:00.001-06:00

Things that make me happy:
Tulips
Dandelions about to blow in the wind
Making S'mores with friends
Wrinkles' smile

We went up Green Canyon tonight with Tara, Morgan, Lisa, Atty and their dogs. Tara built us a fire and we roasted s'mores.

Fingernail Moon

We bought those ridiculously huge marshmallows to make the s'mores. They didn't work so well.

Atty being a good little brother helping Morgan put her s'more together.

Athena was looking for something to drop on the ground for her to eat.

It makes me happy when she smiles!

Memorial Day

2011-05-31T19:33:00.001-06:00

We had a BBQ at Brian and Chelsie's new house for Memorial Day. We had to make it quick since Chelsie had to work that night and needed to take a nap. Brian manned the grill since my dad was at work, too. It was freezing so we stayed inside. The boys had fun making messes in Chelsie's house and Gavin decided to dump his food on the stairs instead of eating it.

My mom made pumpkin chocolate chip cookie sandwiches that were soooo yummy!! And Gavin loved eating them.

Branson finally talked us into going outside for a bit. So we bundled him up because the wind so was so dang cold and went outside. He loves blowing the dandelions.

We hurried and got pictures of Jade and Brittiney and Josh and I before we froze!

Luckily the sun was out for a lot of the time we were up there but as we left the storm clouds moved in again. We've seen these way too much lately.

31 Days of May ~ Day 30

2011-05-30T16:01:00.000-06:00

30. Who are you?

When I hear this saying, I think of the CSI song by The Who. Can't get it out of my head!
Anyway, who am I?

* I am a child of God

* I am a daughter

* I am a sister

* I am a wife

* I am a mother to my 4 furbabies (that still counts as being a mother, right?)
* I am an Auntie

* I am a friend

* I am nice

* I am loyal

* I am loving

* I love to laugh

* I am a girl who likes to be annoying and take pictures of everything. :)

* I am a blogger

* I am a reader

* I am a dancer (behind closed doors for only me to see these days, except for Zumba class :) )

* I am an American and am so thankful on this Memorial Day for those in the military who have fought and who are fighting for this great country of ours and for the freedom we all have.

31 Days of May ~ Day 29

2011-05-29T21:39:00.001-06:00

29. In the past month, what have you learned.

I don't think I've gained any life-changing wisdom during this past month. But I have learned that my family is strong. We all have our demons we have to fight and we can succeed when we stick together.
I love the rain but one month of it straight is just too much, especially when horses are up to their bellies in water. We went for a drive on Saturday and saw this. Poor things, it really needs to dry out.

31 Days of May ~ Day 28

2011-05-28T22:03:00.000-06:00

28. A picture of me last year and now, and how I have changed.

I don't know that I've changed too much in the past year. Maybe just another year older. I have learned so much about photography. That first pic is the first time Josh and I used the tripod to get pictures of us up in Logan Canyon with my new camera last year...oh and it was warm, not 50 degrees. The first 10 pics were awful, the focus was on the mountains behind us instead of us. That one is the best of the batch and it still isn't very good. I love learning all I can about photography even though I have a beginner DSLR and don't have any fancy lenses, I still love it. It inspires me daily.
I dared to go shorter with my hair and to straighten it more.
I've tried harder to accept my life for what it is and the life Heavenly Father has planned for me. That doesn't mean I don't have my bad days because believe me, I do. I still get in bed at night and cry silently to myself often, especially on the nights when Josh is at work. I try to hide how much it hurts me that I haven't been able to and maybe even can't give Josh the family I know we both deserve. It's something that seems so easy for others. I get really angry and I mean ANGRY at people who can have kids and get pregnant so easily, especially when they can't take care of the kids they already have and take them for granted. But that's on me, it's nobody's fault so I keep that to myself. There are only 4 people who know how much I struggle with this. Thank you to Josh, my mom, Shannon and Tara for listening to me and being there for me. My friend Kenna has a quote on the side of her blog that speaks to me and I'm working on it.

She also said on her blog once, before she and her Josh adopted their adorable Boog, that she'd trade her best day without kids for someone's worst day with them. I whole-heartedly agree.
I've applied to start my pre-reqs to get into nursing school. I have a long way to go but I'm finally jumping on the bus to do something I know I've wanted to do since I was 16.

31 Days of May ~ Day 27

2011-05-27T20:14:00.001-06:00

27. Why are you doing this challenge.
I'm not very good at posting a lot, maybe once a week. We're boring and don't have much going on. So I thought this would be good way to post more at least for one month. It also sounded like fun. I had fun thinking of things for each day and subject. It was challenging but I really enjoyed doing it. And since this challenge is only 30 days and there are 31 days in May, I need suggestions for the last day. So if you want to, leave me a comment of something you would want to know about me.

31 Days of May ~ Day 26

2011-05-26T19:11:00.000-06:00

26. What you think of your friends.

Well, they are my friends so I like them. Life takes control sometimes and you lose touch with the friends you had in high school. That's one reason I like Facebook. It's so easy to connect to people. Jessie and Vicki are a few of my friends where it doesn't matter if you haven't seen each other for years, it's like you were with them yesterday when you see them again. I love that. I like my Bunco group for that reason, too. I'm in it with Vicki and other girls I went to school with so it's fun to reconnect with them.
I love the friends I married into. Ben and Ila and Jamiee and Jason are great friends and they are the same, we don't see them very often but when we do it's like we're just together. Ben and Ilaria live in Switzerland so Josh and Ben try to stay connected with Googlechat a couple times a year. And we keep saying we need to get down to Henderson to see Jaimee, Jason and their kids, we just need to plan a weekend and go!
Tara and Cody are our best friends and we love them like family. Had Tara and I known each other when we were younger we definitely would have been friends. We have so many of the same interests and like the same things.
I love all the people in our lives, that's why they're there.

31 Days of May ~ Day 25

2011-05-25T19:06:00.004-06:00

25. What's In Your Bag?
Oh man, I carry everything in my purse.
When I go purse shopping, it's a process. I can't just pick any purse. It has to be cute on the inside, the inside is just as important as the outside, and it has to have lots of pockets.
My camera is usually in there, I know that's terrible. I really want an Epiphanie bag! Either the Red Lola or the Pink Clover! My wallet, toothbrush (which reminds me to get more toothpaste), lotion, nail file, pouch that has, tweezers, ibuprofen, band-aids and feminine products, gum and my sunglasses. Then in one of my pockets I have all my lip stuffs, I have a bunch and don't know why I carry them all with me. The main ones that I use is my Burt's Bees and my C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint. The other pocket carries my sunglasses and iPod. Then my antibacterial hand sanitizer.

In other news:

Today was the last day of Oprah. She is one of my favorite people and I'm really going to miss her show. I learned so much from her. I wanted to watch the last show with my mom, who introduced her to me at a young age. I got up to her house at 4 and they had breaking news of Brian David Mitchell getting a life sentence. I'm glad he got that, he deserves nothing less for what he did to Elizabeth Smart.

Oprah's last show was really good, just her. No fancy guests, no amazing giveaways, just her. We did the ugly cry. It was good to share that with my mom. We always talk on the phone about "did you see this or that on Oprah" and I'm going to miss those conversations, although I don't think Oprah's done for good. But I'm going to miss her and as she said on the end of her show, until we meet again.

31 Days of May ~ Day 24

2011-05-24T20:47:00.002-06:00

I couldn't decide between Tara's edited version of what today's post is supposed to be and what the original is so I'm going to do both.
24. Favorite Things and Letter to My Parents.
Oprah's Favorite Things show was always one of my very favorites. I loved seeing the people so excited for the amazing gifts they got from such a generous lady, especially the last couple years of the show where she gave them to people so deserving of them. Going to her show with my mom was on my bucket list but obviously that dream will not come true as tomorrow is her last show. I'm not giving anything away and my meager list of favorite things is nothing compared to her's but here it is...

My Camera and the pictures I take with it.

Candles. I love a good candle.

My Tom's, love these and they are so comfortable.

Pink, I love the color Pink. I'm drawn to it.

My iPod Touch.
Burt's Bees lip balm, the minty one.

(there is more than this but it's all i can think of right now, i'll add more as i think of them)

Letter to my parents, oh dear. Where do I start?

Mom and Dad,

I'm not good with words but I will attempt to tell you how much I love you and how much you both mean to me.

I'm so thankful for the two of you and I'm glad I chose you as my parents in the pre-existence. I'm so thankful you two didn't throw in the towel and walk away during the times when it would have been much easier to do so. You both toughed it out and worked it out with each other when things got hard and, to me, that is such an important lesson to teach your children. Don't give up. I'm so thankful I don't come from a broken home and I know my parents love each other for who they are and can accept each other for who they aren't.

You both gave me, Jade and Chelsie a great childhood. We never had a want for anything and I know that we weren't wealthy by any means. You both sacrificed so much so we could have the things we wanted and are awesome parents. We are such a strong, loving family and it's because of you.

I hated our "family day" Sundays because my friends didn't have to do that with their families, they could be out doing something and I felt like I was missing out. But now, none of that obviously matters. We bonded during those Sundays of togetherness even though we didn't like it then and thought our friends were more important.

There was never a question in my mind of how important us kids were to you both growing up. It's in every Jr. Jazz basketball game, softball game, basketball game, volleyball game, dance/Phi-Del competition and recital you both sat through because you love us.

Mom, what can I say? We've grown up together since you had me at 18. We are so close and I'm so thankful for our relationship. I'm so lucky to have a mom that I can share my ups and downs with and you have no judgement on me. Your kids are you most prized possession and we all know that because of how you raised us. I love spending time together, just the two of us and the fun we have. You truly are one of my very best friends.

Dad, thank you for everything you've taught me and continue to teach me. Thank you for always being there to help us when we need anything. You are such an awesome father and I'm so glad you're mine. I loved being your little fishing buddy when I was little, although I'm sure I didn't help you catch any fish. I remember sitting on your lap in the Datsun on our way home from fishing one day and you let me steer the car, I thought that was just the coolest thing. One of my favorite memories of you is when we were camping at Twin Lakes. It was getting dark and you were sitting by the fire listening to The Rolling Stones, and the song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was playing. You told me that song was true, that you can't always get what you want but if you try you get what you need. I don't know why that particular memory sticks out so much but it does and I love it. It is something I've carried with me and it's so true to my life right now.

You both are priceless in my life. I see you, I hear you and what you say matters to me. I love you both.

31 Days of May ~ Day 23

2011-05-23T23:03:00.000-06:00

23. Something I crave a lot.

Josh and I quit drinking soda for over 2 years. I craved a couple of drinks but never enough to make me want it. I craved Sprite, Root Beer and the worst craving was Mt. Dew from a can, that's the best! We used to go fill our 64 oz mugs every single night. Caffeine doesn't effect my sleep so it was okay except for the amount of sugar and carbonation we were putting into our bodies.
So recently, we started drinking soda again. I'm not sure how it started but we just let our guard down. It's nothing like it used to be, we only have a couple sodas a week but I love me some Mt. Dew from the can and the new Supernova flavor. Oh, it's yummy!

I am my father's daughter, we both love ice cream. Ben & Jerry's is my fav and this is the current flavor I'm craving.

If I crave something salty, it's always chips and salsa. The best are either Chili's or Angie's.

I want to learn how to make my own salsa this summer...maybe, if we can ever get a garden in with all this rain!

31 Days of May ~ Day 22

2011-05-22T22:56:00.001-06:00

22. What makes me different from everyone else.

This one is hard because I don't think I'm that different. So I'll just list some things about me I guess...
I'm timid and shy until I get to know you.
I have curly hair. I love my hair even though it's more of a love/hate relationship but I do like that I can do it both curly and straight. Speaking of my hair, I only cut it a couple of times during my childhood except for trims but never cut a lot off until a few years ago. It was always at least past the middle of my back. When we got married it was past my waist. And I never put any color in it until I was about 19.

These two pics were just before we got married.

This was my first major haircut that Josh's cousin, Donna did for me.

I have a need for everyone to be happy. I don't like attention on me, I'm really uncomfortable and nervous.

I also can't hide my nerves, my neck gets all splotchy and red. It looks like I have hives. It even does that when I eat in public, I guess I feel like I'm on display. I don't like playing board games or any kind of game that singles me out for the same reason, it makes me nervous and uncomfortable and it's not fun.

I'm just a Plain Jane kind of girl.

31 Days of May ~ Day 21

2011-05-21T23:30:00.004-06:00

21. A picture of something that makes me happy.

Music

One good thing about music, when it hits, you feel no pain.

~Bob Marley

and this song is making me really happy right now.

Movies, especially funny ones. I'm more of a comedy/romantic comedy kind of girl.

I have my go-to movies that always make me happy.

*Vacation (my all-time fav) will always make me laugh

*Christmas Vacation (can watch it anytime of year)

*How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days

*Ghostbusters

*50 First Dates

*All Harry Potters

*Wedding Crashers

*Nothing But Trouble

These 3 kids make me so happy.

Noah, Elizabeth and DJ.

We got to watch Noah's baseball game today and we loved every minute of it, he is so good. He's such a sweet boy who is slowly growing into a tweenager.

He will be 11 on Monday, he's growing up way too fast.

Elizabeth

It's her 9th birthday today. She's the funniest little girl I've ever met. She had us cracking up tonight at dinner.

She's so smart but so dingy at the same time. I love her to pieces.

And my DJ

He had his 6th birthday on Thursday and I don't like it, he's getting too big.

That boy melts me. I love that he still loves me so much and we still have such a strong bond. I love how excited he gets when he sees us. He hasn't felt well for about a month now and is going to go through some testing to see what is going on and it terrifies me.

This photo brings tears to my eyes. I'm so glad I got that moment with him yesterday. It was heaven.

I love that kid.

These kids are like my own, when they hurt I hurt, when they are happy I'm happy.
There's nothing I wouldn't do for them.

My family and Josh's family.

We went to Raedyn's baptism today in Ogden. It was at St. Joseph's cathedral. I have never been inside a cathedral or been to a catholic baptism so I was really interesting. It went well and we had lunch at Alicia's parents' house. It was really crazy so we barely got a picture of the 4 of them together, but I forgot to change some settings on my camera so the few pics we got didn't turn out very well. It was fun though, the kids had a blast in the bouncy house.

My furbabies.

They drive me crazy but I can't imagine my life without them.

Meow and Yoko who I don't have a decent picture of right now...

Our friends are the best!

(Tara, I love our flippy floppies with sockies!)

And last but certainly not least, this guy. He makes me the happiest.

31 Days of May ~ Day 20

2011-05-20T12:29:00.002-06:00

20. My husband.

Oh, how I love him.

He was born January 21, 1976.

His early childhood was in Salt Lake. Rosie was putting herself through nursing school so he and his little brother Shane spent a lot of time with their Grandmother, Elizabeth.

His teenage years were in Las Vegas.

Josh and Shane

His family moved to Wellsville when he was 17. He moved around after high school and lived in Tuscon for a while with Ben and went with Ben and Iladia on their honeymoon back to her home in Switzerland for 3 months. He slept on a mattress in the hall and Ila's grandmother would speak to him in Italian asking him if he was hungry and he had no idea what she was saying. He had his guitar and would sing and play in the train station during the day.

He is the most hilarious person I've ever met. He makes me laugh everyday and that is one of the reasons I fell madly in love with him. He is a very good singer/songwriter and I love listening to him play, so do our families. His Uncle John always asks him if he brought his guitar down when he are over at his house.
He is a lover of video games. I'm glad we got him off of World of Warcraft, though. That was taking up way too much time. He is really into Black Ops right now and loves playing with Cody and Atty and Jade when he's on.
He is almost done with school unless he decides to go for his master's. And I'm so proud of him. He is doing so well and has stuck it out even when it was hard and he didn't think he could do it anymore. He's sacrificed a lot to get to where he is now.
I believe Heavenly Father put him on the Earth for me to find. He so completes me. He has changed my life. I don't know where I'd be without him but I know I'm better with him.

31 Days of May ~ Day 19

2011-05-19T20:30:00.001-06:00

19. Nicknames I have and why I have them.

I was called Kandiapple, Kandicane, and Kandiass while I was growing up.
Kandicane and Kandiass have stuck with me the most.
My grandparents called me Kandicerella after I complained that my mom made me do a lot more around the house than my brother and sister just because I was older....I had to put THEIR laundry away for Heaven's sake!
I don't have a middle name but my mom would call me Kandice Marie, don't know where Marie came from cause we don't have one in our family but I secretly liked it.
Tara calls me K.
Shannon has nicknamed me Kandicelou and Kandilou.
Josh calls me Mammie and Honey.

31 Days of May ~ Day 18

2011-05-18T22:10:00.002-06:00

18. Plans/Dreams/Goals I have.

This kind of goes with Day 13 for the things I want to achieve in my life.
I want to get my RN, have babies (biological and/or adopted) and buy our very modest dream house. I want to go through the temple with Josh. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get there, but that's one of the wonderful things about our religion, repentance and remission of sins. I get anxiety when I think about going to church on Sunday morning because church was kind of brutal when I was growing up. Our family wasn't like the other families in Franklin and I had my rebellious teenage years and I felt like I was judged on the rare occasion I did go to church. I had great mutual leaders who made me feel very welcome but teenage girls can be really mean and I was uncomfortable. So I had a hard time going and I feel like that has crossed over into my adult life. Josh and I aren't active in our church but totally believe and have faith in everything we've been taught about our religion. We need to go for us and not the people even though that's hard sometimes.
Josh and I have talked about what we would do if we weren't able to have kids. If that is the case, we want to travel all over and see the world together.
When I get my RN I want to work with babies in the nursery or with cancer patients, especially children. I know that will be very hard but I also think it will be so rewarding and amazing.
I want to be the best Aunt I can to all our nieces and nephews. They may be the closest thing I'll have to my own children and I want them to know how special they are to me and how much I love them.
I plan to grow old with Josh. Sitting side by side, holding hands until the end of this life knowing we lived good, happy lives waiting to see Eternity.

31 Days of May ~ Day 17

2011-05-17T22:45:00.003-06:00

17. Past travels and where I want to go.
I have been a lot of places when I think about it but still feel like there is so much out there to see. I have so many places I still want to go, it's a big world out there.
I traveled the country when I was 17 on a church history trip and saw so many cool things and went so many cool places. Here's a few...(sorry these pictures aren't very good)

Gettysburg

NYC

Times Square

View from the World Trade Center

The Statue of Liberty from World Trade Center

Washington, D.C.

WWII Memorial Wall

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Washington, D.C temple

Niagara Falls, US and Canada

Hannibal, Mississippi

The Mark Twain Riverboat

Palmyra, NY

Nauvoo

I went on a road trip to Canyonlands with Vicki and Jenna when we were little.

We went to Vegas as kids to our timeshare and have been a few times to visit our friends down there.
We went to San Diego for a week for our honeymoon, funnest week of my life.
My parents took us into Tijuana for the day while we were in California when we were kids, scariest hours of my life now looking back on it. All the street vendors kept calling my sister and I "little Barbie dolls".
We missed the bus to get back into the states and it started getting dark so we had to bust our butts to get back to the border before dark. They had little kids selling Chiclets on the streets and they yelled "money, money, money" at us as we we hauling butt to cross the border.

Places I want to go:
Josh and I are planning to go to England and Switzerland next spring, hopefully we'll really go. I really want to take him to see Liverpool, the home of The Beatles, and want to go see London and explore the English countryside. Josh went to Switzerland for 3 months with his friend and always tells me he wants to take me there because it's so beautiful. While we're there I would love to stop in Ireland, Italy and see Paris. I really want to go to Australia and see the Great Barrier Reef. I would love to take Josh to all of the places I went on my church history trip, I would appreciate it so much more now and take way better pictures. Hawaii would be fun and the Caribbean and Santorini, Greece.

31 Days of May ~ Day 16

2011-05-17T22:44:00.000-06:00

16. Biggest Pet Peeves.

* Liars drive me crazy.
* I hate when we make plans to do something with other people and the plans don't happen they way I built them up in my mind. That's more about me than anyone else. I have a bad habit of building things up in my head to be so much more than they ever are.
* I hate big cowboy trucks with their deer antler stickers...so annoying.
* I hate people who who think their children are inconveniencing to them and don't take care of them...if they only knew what a special gift a child is.

31 Days of May ~ Day 15

2011-05-15T21:28:00.001-06:00

15. Put my iPod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play.

1. Perfect - Alanis Morissette
2. Hole In My Soul (Live) - Aerosmith
3. Almost Famous - Eminem
4. Faithfully - Glee Cast
5. Andy, You're A Star - The Killers
6. Two Of Us - The Beatles
7. Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon ( or the Herpes song as my brother and sister call it)
8. They Don't Really Care About Us - Michael Jackson
9. Grey Matter (Live) - Jewel
10. There Goes The Neighborhood - Sheryl Crow

31 Days of May ~ Day 14

2011-05-14T09:50:00.003-06:00

14. A picture of me and my family.

Here's my family at my Grandma Pat's house in Salina in 2001.

Here we are camping up on the Boulder in 2002.

And here we are on Chrismas in 2010.

This is Josh's grandmother, Elizabeth. I'm so happy I got to meet her before she died. She definitely was a big part of Josh's life and is really missed. The first time I met her, she pulled me aside and told me to make sure Josh treated me right. She was so sweet to me.

Josh, his mom Rosie, and brothers Shane and Austin. We really need to get an updated family picture.

Here's Shane and his two kids, Tycen and Lucy at Lucy's 1st birthday party.

I don't have a picture with Austin with his baby boy, Readyn, for some reason...but here's a picture of Uncle Josh with baby Raedyn.

We really need to work on getting updated family pictures of both of our families!! Just need to get everyone together at the same time and looking nice...not too hard, right?

31 Days of May ~ Day 13

2011-05-13T09:49:00.001-06:00

13. What do I hope to achieve in life.

I have so many things I want to achieve in life. My 2 biggest goals are to become a RN and to have a baby. I'm working on getting back into school and start my prereqs in the fall. It's going to be tough going back to school after so long but I know I can do it. Being a nurse is something I've wanted since I was 16 but never made it a priority, stupid. I want to work with babies in the nursery or in a cancer center somewhere. I really just want to help people.
Now to have a baby. I so desperately want this. Our life together is wonderful and if it's just the 2 of us for eternity then I will be one very blessed girl. But I just feel like something is missing. I really want to see Josh as a father because I know he will be an awesome dad. I want to give him a little boy to play baseball and basketball with and I want to give him a little girl so she can wrap him around her little finger. I want to watch my son play baseball and basketball and whatever else it is he wants to do. And I want to watch my little girl dance and whatever else she wants to do. I've always loved babies and couldn't wait to get married and have my own little babies when I was younger. I always just thought it would be so easy, it seemed to be for everyone else. Josh and I decided to start trying in June 5, 2004. Josh remembers the day so well because it was the day Ronald Reagan died. I thought we would be pregnant in 6 months tops. When that didn't happen we went to a doctor here in Logan to try to figure it out. I did not like the doctor but there seemed to be nothing wrong with us, we just needed to keep trying. Well here we are almost 7 years later and nothing but 2 heart-wrenching miscarriages. There seems to be a problem with my FSH levels so I need to get back into our new doctor to see for sure what's going on and how we can fix it. It's going to be expensive and that's one of the reasons I drag my feet on getting back in to see him. When he tells us how much it's going to cost and knowing we can't afford that right now, it's going to be a bad day full of tears and it will seem that much more unachievable. I need to just bite the bullet and get in though.
I want to buy a house after we're done with school and are ready. I have dreams about it. I want a fenced yard for the dogs and kids to run and play. I want pictures of our kids on every wall. I want family dinners at the kitchen table in the winter and out on the patio in the summer. I want our perfect, little dream house.

31 Days of May ~ Day 12

2011-05-12T09:19:00.001-06:00

12. How I found out about blogs and why I made one.
When Josh and I moved back from Sandy at the end of '07, Tara told me about blogs. I had heard about them but never gave it a thought to start one, I'm just a boring girl from Utah. But after seeing her's, it seemed like a great way to journal. I've never been very good at keeping my journal and this seemed a lot easier. It's a great way to kind of scrapbook, too. I started mine November 22, 2007 and have loved it. I've met some really great people through my blog and I love that no matter where the people that we love are we can share our lives with them. I love personalizing the look of it whenever I want and I love learning new things about it. Tara made a book for my birthday this year, since I never did it myself, and I love that I can chronicle each year of our life. It introduced me to the world of photography which I have just fallen in love with and I love looking at other people's pictures. People have said that nobody blogs anymore because of Facebook but Facebook is nothing compared to blogs. I love blogging.

31 Days of May ~ Day 11

2011-05-11T08:12:00.001-06:00

Since blogger was down for a few days, I will now catch up and back date these posts.
11. Another picture of me and my friends.
I'm going to add some oldies in here. I'm trying to find the rest of them.
Me and Vicki, one of my best friends from the time I was 8 or 9. We were in Phi-Dels, the high school drill team, and we must have been performing that day because we were dressed up. Yeah, let's not talk about how hideous my bangs were...yikes...and the school girl look was really in, again not my best choice.

Me & Ashley, another one of my best friends from high school. She and I played volleyball and basketball together from 7th grade to our sophmore year. I think this is our last day of our senior year.

Jessie, Jason and I seeing Jason off at the airport for his mission in Cleveland. Jessie is another one of my best friends from school.

My Aunt Aspen (the girl in the white shirt next to me), her friends, and I at Niagara Falls during the church history tour. We were getting ready to go down by the falls on The Maid of the Mist.

Here's me Raelynn and Gina on the boat. I wish I had a picture of me and Aspen on it.

Josh and the boys playing Naval Wars last night.

And me and my bestie Tara, after a great BBQ and watching Alanis videos last night!