April and May

On April 7th Pops took the training wheels off Joshua's bike and began helping him to ride on his own. By April 10th (three days later) Josh was riding all on his own cruising around everywhere. I can't believe it!
By now he is a pro, starting and stopping all on his own and riding around the neighborhood. He calls his training wheels, baby wheels and says he no longer needs them because he is not a baby.

April 27th We celebrated our 6th year anniversary!
A couple weekends before our actual anniversary we went up to Park City for a couple nights. I accidentally lost all the pictures I took and I am devastated by that but luckily I kept my journal up to date and recorded those days. We had a great time at the Salt Lake Temple where we did sealings with one of Aaron's mission presidents brothers. That was cool! We did some major shopping at the Tanger outlets, rode the Alpine Coaster, ate at a yummy Mexican restaurant Baja Cantina, watched Date Night at the local cinema and made our own chocolate strawberry Heath shakes. Yum! We had a great time.

The day of our anniversary Aaron surprised me with some gorgeous flowers and we got a new car (Honda Pilot). I have to say, I LOVE IT!

Aaron's family found a lovely home and so on the 1st of May they moved out of our home and into theirs. They seemed very excited to be getting their own stuff again and to start settling into a place of their own. The past 6 nearly 7 months they've lived with us have been wonderful and hard at times but we are so glad they have made the move over and have gotten their permanent residency. You can see more about how they are doing HERE.

Rachael took her first 3 steps on May 2nd and was walking sturdily on her own by June 11th.

May 7th was Pop's birthday. Mum had a birthday party for him a few nights before and we got to celebrate along with Jess, Ben and Jack who were in town for the night. Josh got to spend the night with Jack at Mama and Pop's house. He loved that!

They day of Pop's birthday I got up early with the kids and we went down to make him a large breakfast. I then took the kids to a park where we played around for awhile. 

May 9th - Mother's Day.

A beautiful day that was. Rachael actually fell asleep in my arms at church, that NEVER happens!   I was given some perfume, cute decoration from Josh, chocolate and some gorgeous daisies from my mom.  

We were very fortunate that day to get to see both of our Moms. I am so grateful for the mothers in my life!

The rest of the month we enjoyed our first summer swim,  Joshua's Preschool Graduation, Hawaii (separate posts on that coming soon), A Day out with Thomas, and Steph's Birthday.

Ankle - Easter - Family

Strange combination I know!
On March 30th after a long tiring day Aaron returned home from playing soccer earlier than normal. As he came crawling into the house pale white and sweating buckets I knew something was wrong. 

He had hurt his ankle quite badly. While he worked through the pain of me taking off his shoes, shin guards and socks I tried to analyze the situation and decide what needed to be done. As it was quite late a night I got some crutches from a neighbor so he could at least try to go sit in the bath. Nope, way too painful he nearly blacked out. Yikes.
Thanks to a rescue of some great friends Carl took Aaron to the ER while I stayed home with the sleeping kids (Mum, Dad & Beth were in Denver visiting Jess, Ben & Jack). They got home around 2 a.m. No broken bones but lots of damage done. Lots of healing ahead of us.

Aaron's wonderful co-workers stopped by with loads of wonderful gifts. He is such a spoiled man getting flowers, balloons, candy, authored signed book, popcorn, brownies, movies etc.

After nearly 12 weeks, a few visits with an orthopedic surgeon, X-rays and MRI's, walking boot, ice packs and ankle braces he is moving around just fine and playing soccer again but his ankle still doesn't look right. It is still a bit swollen and really tight. I think he may need to have it looked at again. 


On to a better note: EASTER


We decided awhile back that we wanted to give our kids their Easter baskets and egg hunts on the Saturday before so that we could focus on the true meaning that Sunday.
So Saturday morning we did just that and enjoyed relaxing while listening to General Conference.

(those Ferrero Rocher's were not for Rachael by the way) :)

Sunday we had a delicious Easter meal up at my parents house. Conference was fabulous and Josh enjoyed pointing out the first presidency and listened to at least their talks. I noticed a likeness in a lot of the talks focusing on the family. Loved it!

My mom had put together little easter baskets for the kids and had them go around the house in search for candy and money filled eggs. They then colored a few easter eggs with Steph and then we all enjoyed a few of the chocolate covered strawberries I made. Yum!

Family:
The McReynold's were in town so we got to spend some time with them. I had a great time taking their family photos the Monday after easter and enjoyed bowling and a few games of lazer tag. That was great fun and so nice to see them again.

Rachael's 1st Birthday

Back on March 17th - St. Patrick's Day - we celebrated Rachael's first birthday.

We start birthdays out by opening presents in our bed. 

Rachael was a little unsure as to what was going on. 

She got this cute green dress perfect for a birthday shared with St. Patrick's Day

We had 18 close family and friends come over to celebrate with us that evening. 

With yummy Papa Murphy's Pizza for dinner we then had some of the delicious devil's food cake I had made. It took me quite some time to make and I was nervous how it would turn out as it was a new recipe I had recently found (yes I was daring) but it was fantastic if I do say so myself.! Before the day was over we ended with a lovely stroll around the neighborhood.

A couple days before my wonderful neighbor Katie let me borrow her studio to take some pictures of Rachael. 

It was an interesting experience but I managed to get some gorgeous shots!

I can't believe how quickly time flies...

Another Picnic day!

I think we are all so excited for this summer that we just couldn't wait to get out and had so many things planned this week.

Again the kids were begging me for another picnic at a park. I was planning on a day inside cleaning but who wants to do that right? :) So we packed a lunch and swimsuits picked my sister up and went to this nice man-made lake near my in-laws. We had a blast eating lunch on the beach and then the kids played in the sand and water.

We were there a couple hours before the winds and clouds came in. We packed up and headed home. Not long after arriving home we went to Aaron's soccer game and watched him score a nice goal! Way to go honey!

Another great day! Tomorrow the WORLD CUP starts! 

The Zoo

Yesterday my mom took me and the kids up to the zoo for the day. We got up there soon after it opened which was perfect. It was just overcast enough to keep it a manageable temperature. The animals were out interacting and Rachael was going crazy for the monkeys. She loved it!

Around lunch time the clouds were gone and the sun was out and hot! It went from a nice cool wet morning to blistering humid heat. We got a couple quick snacks. Drank some nice ice cold water and headed off to finish our adventure.

Seeing all the animals was a lot of fun but Josh was more concerned about riding the train. So our last stop we took the train ride. Once we sat down I snapped a few pictures because the kids were hilarious. They both looked extremely tired yet excited to be on the train. Rachael was a little more fearful and unsure what was happening.

I have to say that my favorite part were the birds at the bird show. INCREDIBLE!

We left the zoo around 2ish, cooled off in a nice air conditioned car, picked up some lunch and frosties from Wendy's and ate at a park. We ate at this park that sits on the fault line. Kinda cool and creepy at the same time. Rachael fell asleep on the blanket and I was wanting to join her so badly. I don't know what it is but a day at the zoo zaps me. I never have an ounce of energy left the rest of the day.

We had a great time! Thanks mom for taking us!

Today June 8th

Today I woke feeling drained as I think everything is finally catching up with me. I was determined to still have a good eventful and productive day with a little relaxing and blogging. So here I am :)

After an attempted work out with MK I began my day. First by cleaning up downstairs and then enrolling Josh and Taylor in a summer camp. They had the time of their lives at this chocolate class. First by tasting cooking cocoa and learning it's bitter taste. They then experienced making their own chocolate frosting with it, how adding simple ingredients such as sugar can make the cocoa taste completely different. They frosted and ate chocolate cupcakes and finger painted with chocolate. They played many games, ate Popsicles outside and counted colored m&m's on a bingo like sheet. They had a blast and they cant' wait until next week.

Once I picked them up (with chocolate all over their faces :)) I had packed lunches and we went out to the nearby boat harbor. There we had lunch and sat on the beach. It was beautiful out there and got me really excited for boating. There were a couple of boats already out there pulling skiers and tubers. Little Rachael loves being outside and is so content and happy. My little girl is walking around more and more outside. It won't be long before she is running. 

Once we got back home Rachael had a nap, the kids had some quite time while I cleaned up and relaxed a bit myself. Then the kids were back to play outside in the little pools.

I ended my day seeing the kids to bed and then going out to Young Womens. We took the girls on a bike ride to a nearby camping spot and roasted marshmallows for smores and chatting. We had a great time! We did run into a few problems with flooded trails and such but were able to detour other ways. I cannot believe the trail under the bridge is completely flooded. I'll have to take a picture of it tomorrow!

Funny RuN

I am severely behind on my blog but had to share an experience from this evening.

My lovely running partner MK is so good at getting us going. If it weren't for her i'm sure I would not be running anymore. So she got us out running at 8:00 tonight. We were about 15 minutes into our run and saw a large skunk slowly cross the path a distance in front of us. As we neared the area it crossed MK was pushing me to the other side of the trail in fear of it jumping out. Soon enough, there it was! As we ran past it PANIC set it. No joke, MK went sprinting off so fast I didn't even realize what she was doing. I was too busy watching the skunk lift it's tail as if it were to spray. I quickly began sprinting with her and seriously struggled to keep up.
We were laughing so hard the rest of our run. All that laughing must have been what kept our energy going the remainder of the run. We both felt great afterwards.

Running has been a new experience for me. When I started the 12 week running program the end of last year I never thought I would make it this far. I seriously struggle to find the motivation to run on my own so being able to begin and finish the 12 week course with my mother-in-law and now run with MK has been fantastic. I feel stronger, healthier and have more energy since beginning this. You would think that should be motivation in itself right?

In 42 days I will be running the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay with Aaron and a group of friends/co-workers. I am so excited and nervous at the same time. I think it will be a wonderful experience and I am so anxious to get my camera out there to snap some once in a life time shots. I hope by the end of it I am still able to function. I've managed to run twice in 12 hours but still have a long way to go if I want to be ready in time.... Wish me luck! :)

Beginning 2010

These past few months have quickly flown by. Where has the time gone?

January is one of those months that  never even seems to exist really. I was looking back preparing to write this post and had forgotten about our fabulous trip up to the Homestead with my side of the family. We had a blast up there at enjoyed every minute amidst all the ice and snow.

 We had a look at the crater up there but I was seriously too freaked out to swim in it. Because of the naturally warm water and the snow falling in from the top the whole place was so steamy and cave like. FREAKY... We did enjoy sitting in some really nice hot tubs outside while the huge snowflakes fell down on us.

Another day up there we went ice skating. I have never really been able to ice skate but we all had a blast. Josh even got to the point he wasn't wanting to hold anyone's hand for support.

Another day we visited Soldier Hollow and watched some skiers train. The snow was so deep we were walking through these snow trenches that were as deep as Josh is tall. We also visited the amazing Ice Castles. They were incredible.

Jumping forward to February we went to the Olive Garden with Mum and Dad for their 29th wedding anniversary which was a nice treat for us all. We also helped celebrate 4 birthdays: My Grandma, my Mom, Shaylee, and my Dad's. 

Now March came around all too soon and is now quickly going. All of my flowers are beginning to bloom and i've planted my peas. I am so excited. We celebrated Rachael's 1st birthday on St. Patrick's Day (you'll see another post on that soon) and we celebrated Beth's 16th two days later. Beth had a huge birthday bash up at our church building. It was a wig party with loads of games, food and dancing. We had a blast!

You can click HERE for more details and pictures from the wonderful event.

End of 2009 recap

I guess for my sake really I am going to quickly recap on the events leading up to Christmas of 2009. There was a lot going on and that is why I have neglected the blog.

In October my brother married the love of his life. We were so busy the few months before getting things together. Bridal Showers, dresses, shoes, pictures invites etc. I was happy to help in any way I could.

They had a lovely wedding dinner the night before at the Lion House (the same place we had our wedding luncheon).

They got sealed for time and all eternity in the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. Everything went so perfectly.
In between the wedding and the reception we rushed up to my cousin's baptism and then headed back for the reception. It was a long day for our kids but we are so glad we were apart of it.

A week or so after the wedding my mother-in-law arrived from England (I make it sound like she was traveling by boat don't I ;)) A couple weeks later Aaron's dad and sister followed. So we spent a lot of time preparing for their arrival and building our loft into a 5th bedroom. It turned out better than I expected. It's been a huge adjustment for them coming only with what they could fit in their suitcases but I can't believe how quickly the past 4 months have flown by.

Since having them live with us I've been able to go out with Aaron a bit more. In November we went up to Park City for a weekend. Aaron had a work party up there and we decided to make it a getaway. Aaron walked through Art Galleries with me in the day and then I went to a Sports Grill with him that evening to watch the big Utah and Real games.  We also got to watch the Olympic Bobsledding athletes train. We had so much fun!

About a week or so after that my Grandpa Bob died. This was a new and hard experience for me. He died of serious lung cancer that had spread throughout his whole body. I was literally with him only a couple of hours before he past away. I had never experience anyone die of cancer before and didn't realize what it can do to the body...  Everything went really well for the funeral and I've realized how strong my grandma is. She is good at hiding her feelings at least. I was able to help out by designing the program for the funeral.  After the burial we were on clean up and were deciding who to have take home all of the large bouquets of flowers. I ended up bringing home a couple of beautiful arrangements. The best was this gorgeous poinsettia tree. It's still alive and constantly growing in my home... The picture at the bottom is of my grandma and 7 granddaughters. I am the oldest of them all, the others are all between ages 12 and 16. I was actually squatting in this picture, my grandma is only 4'10" and I was wearing heels. (Hard to believe, I know...)

Thanksgiving was spent at my parents house. Aaron's family is from England so this is one of our holidays they do not celebrate. My parents were kind enough to invite them along so we all had a lovely turkey dinner together.

Every year we have a large birthday party for my great grandma. December 2009 she turned 103 so we all got together as usual. I think by now she gets a bit overwhelmed with all the people around. She is surprisingly more with it than I think I would be but her poor body can't keep up with her. She has lived so long in a nursing home now that she doesn't really like to go out.

Aaron's work Christmas party always seems to fall on the same day. So right from the birthday party we headed up to the Grand America Hotel. This year Aaron won a nice blue ray dvd player.  It was a great party this year!






Christmas was our next adventure. It was fun to watch Josh and Rachael open their gifts. The best part for me was opening my new camera. Aaron really surprised me by getting me the Nikon D90 I've been wanting. I am so spoiled. We were so lucky to spend Christmas with both mine and Aaron's families. We had a great time!

Joshua celebrated his 4th birthday just a few days after Christmas. A few days later we took him up to Union Station where we toured through the trains and cars. He loved it!

Needless to say it was an eventful way to end 2009. When we had snow we went sledding and had a great time. Josh was so excited when he found a dollar in the snow that he then used to buy hot chocolate. We had lot of other family parties, and fun outings all December long. I can't say we did anything real exciting to start in the new year though. These days I seriously struggle to make it past 11:00p.m.

Pictures from New Beginnings

Sorry it has taken so long to get these up as I had promised. 

Here are the Value Colored Flags

Poster

Torch

These are the wooden roses I was talking about.

Eve's Script

I am still working on getting another post up of pictures and more details from our New Beginnings night, but I am getting lots of requests for the script for Eve.
I condensed the other scripts slightly so they weren't so long; most of them ended up the length similar to Eve's.

My wonderful father-in-law wrote up this script for me so all credit goes to him.

Eve, the mother of all living

I am Eve, the first woman on earth.  My husband Adam called me 'Eve',  "The Mother of all Living".  I first lived in the Garden of Eden, it was very beautiful and everything was in its order patterned after 'Fathers' Kingdom.

Adam and I were asked by Heavenly Father to care for all of the animals and give them a name; we were blessed with a wonderful opportunity to learn and to grow in knowledge, understanding and wisdom.  I was called to set the pattern for all future mothers that would come down to earth, with a mandate from Heavenly Father to bring up our children in light and truth.
I received all the blessings of the gospel, I have enjoyed the gifts of the Spirit, and have sought to prepare my posterity for like blessings.

When we left the Garden of Eden we called upon the name of the Lord, and offered sacrifices to Him, this was in similitude of the great sacrifice that our Elder Brother Jesus Christ would do for us, He would one day come to earth to take upon Himself all the sins of the world and break the bonds of death which would bless us all with immortality and we could have eternal life dependent on our obedience.

Therefore, in the beginning, we were given the perfect pattern which was set for perfecting the family. The man and the woman should be together in worship; together in teaching their children, and establishing the family unit, that hopefully, will endure into the eternities forever.
I hope that you will cherish motherhood and the sacred role of womanhood, for it is ordained of God that we should bring love and harmony into our families and draw each one closer to God.

New Beginnings

I've been getting quite a few emails about the Young Women's New Beginnings Program we have in a week. Instead of responding personally to each of them it would be easier to post it all here.

I came across this really good idea on Sugardoodle a few weeks ago by Melanie. From there I adjusted and changed a few things to create our own program.
Melanie Davidson created this really cute graphic including the value colors in the rings and the YW Torch. I used her graphic and created this announcement/invitation.

Last night for Young Womens I had the Laurels and Mia Maids create Sashes and flags that the girls will wear as they follow the 'torch bearer' (the Laurel President) into the room. As the Olympic music is being played they will all proceed into the room in the order of the value colors. The Laurel president made a torch similar to the YW Torch that she will carry into the room. She will then speak about the 2010 theme, torch and motto.  The girls following in will be each assigned a value. Each value will be assigned a woman from the scriptures that they will all speak about once the torch is passed to them.

Sariah for Faith
Elisabeth for Individual Worth
Mary for Divine Nature
Emma Smith for Knowledge
Esther for Integrity
Ruth for Good Works
Hanna for Choice and Accountablility
Eve for Virtue

I got these scripts from the Layton Hills Stake for the first 7 values. I am still working on writing up a script for Eve on Virtue.

Click HERE to get the scripts.

Throughout the rest of the program I have an athlete speaking and the young women presidency will be introducing the new girls and recognizing those that have already received their awards. We will each explain the yw symbols and meanings. We will also be going through the new Personal Progress stuff and explaining changes and new awards/certificates.

The bishop will then close with his remarks. After that we will be presenting the girls all with a little gift. I ordered wooden roses online getting them all in the value colors. So each of the girls will be getting a little bouquet of these gorgeous wooden roses in all the value colors.

I will take pictures of the roses, banners and flags on the night and post them here.

I am excited to see how this all turns out. Please feel free to share any suggestions you may have!