Education Week

I was able to go to Education Week at BYU today!! I've never needed it more and the opportunity window couldn't have been better. If there was one thing I did for myself each year, this would be it. The perspective it gives me and the reminders I receive are incredibly beneficial for me and I'm sure make things go smoother in my life. Jake had the day off today and he had Emma all day long! BLESS HIM!

I've been going through a difficult time in my life lately and have had a hard time keeping perspective and doing the things I know will make me happy. I could probably say that my situation had led me to be bitter much more often than better. I've been able to remember that the Lord is there and wants to help, but too resentful to feel like going to Him.

True doctrine changes attitudes and behavior. -Elder Packer

The best thing I experienced today was the overwhelming feeling of the Spirit telling me that the Lord is mindful of me. He knows what I'm going through. He's in charge. He'll send the help I need. He'll strengthen me.

I remembered what it's like to live a life guided and directed by the Spirit. I heard amazing stories about the things people go through and how it has made them better. I was reminded for the second week in a row how quickly things can change and how I need to take advantage of each day. Make the most of each day with my little girl. Make the most of my marriage. Be who I want to be right now.

And I learned more about my Savior and Redeemer. Oh how I need Him in my life. What a blessing it is to know Him and to know of Him. What a pleasure to feel of His love and to look at how He has and does bless me.

Oh that I can remember and apply these things!

Our Summer Chronicles

Okay! I haven't posted all summer and we've been busy. We've gone on several little trips and we moved. Time is flying! We only have 3 weeks before our new baby comes. So here's some of our adventures!

So starting with the most recent adventure first, I am writing from the Montage, which is a ritzy hotel up in the mountains at Deer Valley in Park City. Jake has work up here this week and so Emma and I tagged along, staying longer than planned because we've enjoyed it so much. I have really enjoyed the one-on-one time with Emma as I am mindful that the baby is coming soon and my relationship with Emma is going to have to change a little. Oh how I love that little girl! She has been so much fun up here. She has been full of smiles and hugs, has played great, slept great, eaten great, and been great with other people. Her favorite thing, as usual, has been the swimming pool and it was just adorable to see her put her arms over the fun noodle and float around the pool with me. Sometimes I forget she's only a one-year-old. This will be our third night up here, but only our second night at the Montage. We stayed at the Chateau at Silver Lake our first night, and we enjoyed that hotel a little more because it had a cooler feel to it. The Montage is super nice and you get treated REALLY well, but the feeling here will never match the feeling at a cool little place like the Chataeu.



Last week, we had a great big reunion for my dad's side of the family. We were up
this way that week as well at a cabin in Heber. The cabin was beautiful, but it was a difficult trip with lots of people tucked into a cabin, even though it was a large cabin. Emma did not sleep well and was clingy and full of little tantrums, making the trip quite difficult for me (don't let the pictures deceive you!) Jake was only able to join us the last night, but luckily I did have help from my awesome family. We spent Thursday and Friday at Jordanelle Reservoir and Emma did enjoy that. She loved playing in the rocks and water. She also got to go out on the boat and the wave runner with mom. It was fun to catch up with some extended family and always great to spend time with my brother who currently lives out of state and his family. Danny and Steven were missed up there.




The week before that, the first weekend in August, we went up to Logan and went swimming with Jake's family and then headed up the canyon and camped with some friends who went to high school with Jake and their families. They both brought their dogs, which was the highlight of the trip for Emma, and Emma also had a little playmate her age named Logan. This was a really fun trip. The dogs were both great with kids and Emma was just in heaven! She got to pet and watch dogs to her little heart's content. Cora, which was the younger of the two, let Emma lay with her and hug her and pull her tail and was just fine with it all. We undoubtedly have got to get a dog for this girl someday. It was fun to spend time with Nate and John and their wives. They're a lot of fun. We spent Saturday at Bear Lake, which always reminds me of my dear Great Grandmother who lived her long and happy life just off the lake. Oh how I wish she was still there and could meet my family.

The weekend of the 24th of July was spent up in Logan, where we were privileged to attend the baptism of Jake's dad. It was a long anticipated event for him so we were excited to see it happen. We also love trips to Logan in the summer, where we get to enjoy garden fresh produce from Jake's mom's AMAZING garden and get to see all the family. We also took the opportunity to camp with our friends, Jeff and Kim, Friday night. We were worried about finding a spot on a holiday weekend, but tried Green Canyon just north of Logan Canyon and found an awesome place there! Emma literally rolled around in the dirt and had a blast getting filthy beyond belief. Jake and Jeff were able to get in a little mountain biking as well, which is great. We're excited they're expecting a baby this winter!

And the weekend before that, we moved. Yep! Crazy. This move happened in a matter of a few weeks. We tested the waters to see if we could get renters for what we wanted the last weekend in June and had a lot of response and so decided to move forward with it. We are trying to recoup some of the loss in our home value by renting it out for a year and living in my parents' basement apartment which recently opened up with my younger brother, Kenny, getting married and buying a house. (Yea for him!) It all seems to have worked out well, but it's nerve-racking to know someone else has control over what is happening to your home.

I have also taken the opportunity to work a few hours at Jake's work in July and August, which has been good timing with the upcoming arrival of the baby, but has made things even busier around here.

The weekend of the 4th of July we had family in town. Jake's sister Kari and their family stayed with us Saturday through Sunday and we played up the canyon, watched fireworks, had a campfire, and played games. It was a lot of fun! It's always nice to see his family down here where they have less distractions.

My family was also in town that week with Kenny's wedding. His wife, Nicole, seems like the perfect match for him. Everything went great with the wedding and we're excited for them. They were sealed in the Draper temple on June 30th. I had fun making their wedding slide show video.



And the last event I remember right now was a trip to Moab with 3 of Jake's sisters,
Kazia, Rachel, and Jill who has 4 kids, and Jake's dad. Emma did pretty good. She really is a little trooper. She enjoys hiking, but does get sick of not being able to walk herself. She had a BLAST in Arches at this arch called Sand Hill Arch or something like that playing in the sand. At first she was weirded out by the new texture of the sand, but then she was laying down in it and pushing it around and running it through her hands. It was SO FUN to watch her discover sand. It made me want to get a sandbox. She was so happy! She also tried it and quickly discovered it wasn't fun to eat. Ha haa. She loves to walk by herself on hikes but stops every 5 seconds to look at a new rock or something on the ground. Our nephew broke his arm playing on the playground at the city park, so that was a bummer. We made it to delicate arch, which is always awesome, and took Jake's younger sisters to Little Wild Horse and hiked the slot canyon again with them.

So, that concludes our summer chronicles. Thanks to everyone who has played a part in making this a memorable and adventure-filled summer!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend! We managed to go on two mini-vacations and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Jake had Friday and Monday off and also took Thursday off. We headed down to Goblin Valley area Thursday to Friday. It was beautiful weather! We hiked Little Wild Horse and Crack Canyon slot canyons. We ended up with the wrong baby carrier, but we managed both hikes quite well. We LOVED Little Wild Horse even though we had to trek through red sand water for part of the hike. It was quite an adventure. We didn't get as far in Crack Canyon as we hoped due to water again, but weren't quite as impressed anyway. My favorite part of the Crack Canyon hike was getting to the trailhead. We had to travel on a few dirt roads, the last of which is definately better suited to four-wheel-drive vehicles. Our car did just fine and I was impressed with Jake's off-roading skills. What an adventure! I loved it!

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We had a day to recuperate in-between outings, which was so nice! I was pretty tired after all our adventures.

Then it was off to Logan for Sunday and Monday. It was a lot of fun to see family, play games, and visit with everyone. Emma is often quite brave these days with other people, so it's fun to see her interacting with everyone up there, especially her cousins.

Our community swimming pool also opened up on Memorial Day so we've taken advantage of that. It's surprisingly warm! If anyone wants to get together for a swim sometime, just let me know!

Favorite word

I forgot to mention that Emma's favorite word is "no." She's used the word for a couple months already. It really is kinda cute how she says it and shakes her head like she is so sure the answer is no, even when you ask her something you know she'd really say yes to.

She also loves playing in toilets, throwing things down the stairs, and throwing things in the bathtub.


But overall, she's still pretty easy to keep an eye on. Especially with a copy of the Friend or Reader's Digest close by.


She is also becoming more independent, wanting to feed herself or walk alone.

A major update!

I am so behind in posting. So that means it's update time!

The biggest update is that Emma officially decided she can walk. She's been able to take 4 or 5 steps for weeks, but didn't officially take off on her own until last week. May 3rd. It still surprises me to see her walking out of the corner of my eye. It's adorable. She usually walks with her hands out in front of her like a zombie for better steering and balance.

Perhaps an even bigger update that I forgot I haven't put on here is that we're expecting baby number 2 in September. Labor Day to be exact (fitting, isn't it?) We found out a couple weeks ago that we're having another girl. We're excited! I haven't been nearly as sick this pregnancy, which is so nice! Some days I hardly notice I'm pregnant, which is quite a change from last time. Pretty sure I'll notice this summer though.. Everyone tells me I will love having two girls close in age because they'll play together so well. We're not planning on an immediate move, so we'll be tight in our little two bedroom place, so it's nice we already have all we need.

Other updates.. lets see. We got a bike trailer so we can go for bike rides. It's great! We always put a book in with Emma, and 70% of the time I look back at her she is reading her book. I hear her get excited about something and look back and she's engrossed in her book. What is this child going to be like 5 years from now? She loves LOVES her books.

After a week of protesting her naps and falling asleep standing in her crib a time or two, Emma finally started going to sleep all by herself. She ends up in some awesome positions. We were surprised she still tucks her legs right up under her on her belly like a newborn. How I love Emma's naps!


Mother's Day was great! I got a great note from Jake and one from Emma. That's my favorite. I love notes. I also got a darling plant and a belt we'd picked out together last week. I talked to my brothers who are both out on missions and doing great, one in Alaska and one in Texas. I also got to see a lot of family that weekend, which was great! My brother and sister-in-law and nephew came up from Arizona and we had a lot of fun playing with them.




Jake was in charge of singing in primary so we made paper flowers they could choose with a song attached and give to their moms. I was pretty proud of them. We made quite a bouquet!


About a month ago we went to the zoo with some cousins, it was fun! Emma is starting to LOVE seeing all the animals wherever we go.

I made Emma a skirt.
Emma is starting to talk even more. She loves to repeat words. The ones we hear most regularly are "toes, shoes, bye, dad, nigh-night, bah (which means bath, ball, or bike) and more I can't think of right now." She also wants to feed herself, which will be nice when she can actually do it. Now it just takes forever.

We've also made a couple trips to visit cousins in Logan, hiked Ensign Peak, gone to Wheeler Farm, and all the other day-to-day things that keep us busy. You can check out the videos of Emma walking. I hope you enjoyed our little update.

Emma's First Birthday

Emma turned one on March 12th. She got to spend most of the day with her mom's parents while her parents were heading back from Vegas. We celebrated her birthday on Sunday with some of Mom's family and a few friends. She had to read every book, hug every stuffed animal, and eat the graham crackers her parents gave her right away. She wasn't very enthusiastic about the cupcake mom gave her, but she sure did look cute for some pictures. Happy Birthday Emms, we love you!

On the temple and driving

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the temple with my family while my youngest brother went through. In our church, we believe making it to the temple is a big deal. In a way it is choosing to follow what you've always been taught and choosing it for yourself and making it a part of your life as you transition to an adult. All five of us kids have chosen this now and I am delighted. We also believe that making it without everyone in your family is really sad because we want to be together as a family eternally. That means we all have to chose it and "endure to the end" individually so that blessing can be realized. No matter how great it is to "make it," if someone is missing it just breaks your heart. We all have a long ways to go and our own families now to get there, but we'll all be able to help and support each other along the way.

On another note, getting to the temple yesterday was quite a fiasco. We were already running late, and had to detour back to the house to grab something. My mom was driving with 3 of her children and daughter-in-law in the car. We were telling her to speed and someone told her to go when there was a car coming. If she would have listened to us, she would have gotten a speeding ticket and gotten in a wreck, possibly killing someone in the car. This reminded me of a time on our way to elementary school when we were kids where my mom was driving. There was a bump in the road on the way and we wanted her to speed so the bump would be bigger. She did and got pulled over. She must have learned her lesson, and we did not. It's ironic how everyone likes to tell the driver what to do, but the driver is the one with the responsibility.