Family Pictures

Michael's Little Girl

This is one of our family shots we had taken. Seems how it is taking forever to upload these I am doing this one for now and trying again later for the others. This is a cute shot of them. Morgan would not coperate that day and the only thing that would help ease her were suckers or that baby you see in her mouth.

We Have a Home Base Again!

We have found our little piece of heaven in Utah.

This is an 11 year old home that sits on 5 acres, yes I did say 5 acres! It is such a modest, comfortable, cozy little home. Now there are things about it that will need some work and there are some things that I will just have to live with but overall this is such a blessing that we found it. And I love it.



This is a view from the front yard. We have no one in front of us or in back of us. The house on the left is our closest neighbor on that side of the street. And the neighbor on our same side of the street is just as far.

Now this place is not in the city, as you can see. It is in a little town 30 miles from Salt Lake. It is a little farming community and our ward is called Silver Spur to give you an idea of the area that we live in. And approximately 2,500 people.

This is a backyard view....nothing behind us. Very strange for us. The white fence is not the end of our property. For some reason the previous owners fenced the backyard so small....come summer we are going to remove the fence and just have it open. The closest thing to us in the back is the church and a charter school.

When we first left Nevada I really worried that we would never be able to find a good home like we had. A home that "felt" good and comfortable. A place where you could see yourself raising your kids. I am so happy to say that we have been able to find a place here.

I did not handled myself the way I would have liked through this past trial while renting. However, the experience is not a loss because I have come to understand a little more how important a stable home base is.

I look forward to beautifying this place and being a good steward over what the Lord has given us.

Polar Express

I have no idea why I did not think to take a picture of the train. O-well. That night was fun. The boys enjoyed going to the North Pole to go see Santa. We got to drink hot chocolate and eat cookies served to us by elves. We even got to see Mrs. Clause. When the kids saw Santa you could feel the excitement in the air. It was really cute to experience that with the kids.

Tis the Season for Family

Now granted this lady is not related to me but I consider her my sister. We have been friends around 9 years. I first meet her when she was getting taught by the missionaries and she was a little punk rocker chick. I had just got active myself and was very excited for her. We also happened to be roommates... just barley. (Which she was not happy about....right?) Erica didn't like me much in the beginning and the feeling was mutual.

But oh how things change. I consider her as one of my best friends. She has had to put up with me over the years and has always been there when I have needed her most. What makes our relationship special is we got active at the same time, we have similar backgrounds and we have history together.

I was able to spend an evening with her while we were in Arizona and it was a blast. We had dinner together and then went to a movie. That was the first time in 4 + years we have been able to hang out like that.

This is what this time of year is about for me. Hanging out with people that I love.

My adorable, hard working, handsome, and overall great man holding our little Morgan. She is talking way sooner than the boys ever did! She has 1o words in her vocab now.

We went to Arizona to see Tommy and Elaine on a surprise trip with TJ and his family. It was fun to see their surprise when we all burst into their home. We stayed a week and had a good time. The kids really enjoyed playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was wonderful to see them both doing good.

All the kids had a good time. They especially enjoyed climbing the tree out back and getting extremely dirty in the backyard. I'm sure Tommy and Elaine are still recovering from our stay there.

We were there for Thanksgiving and after we ate that day we opened some Christmas presents from the grandparents. Later we talked as a family what we were most thankful for. I always enjoy doing that and am glad that Jaime got us going. There family had made a cute thankful box for the whole month and were going over it in the picture above.

The best time of year is now. Starting from Halloween on. I hope I can stay focused on what is important and that is family.

I MISS Fernley!

Yes, it has been over a month and I am still boo-hooing over Fernley. My pride almost kept me from posting this but I don't care....I miss it. Why must you not appreciate something (people, places, things) until it is gone? I loved it when I was there but I know I could have appreciated it more.

The following pictures are from a going away party that Janie and Summer put together for Jessica and I. It was such a nice gesture. It was held the Sunday before we left. They had food and frames made so people could write little messages to us. It was so so sweet!


I wish I had a better picture of the kids playing (good one Janie j/k) but this at least shows a few of them having fun in the Johnson's backyard. This backyard is so enchanting. It is so fun for the kids and adults to go hang out in.

Here are two ladies that I love very much. Marilyn B. and Deebie R. They were such great examples to me. Debbie was the R.S. president and was so thoughtful and inspiring as a person. And Marilyn was wonderful about sharing all sorts of great information with me. She is the lady to go to about health, pruning, gardening, and all sorts of other subjects.

Tressa, Sherlyn and Anna are in this one. The Maguin girls were wonderful babysitters and had to put up with oh so much with my boys. They were wonderful!

And my dear friend Tressa.. how we could talk about finances, couponing, food storage and more..(but those were our favorite subjects to discuss). Thanks to Tressa, Candy, and Annie when I first moved there they were the ones that I first got to really know. We had weekly play dates at each others house and it was lots of fun.

My Bishop! What a great man. He was so nice. When I think of humble and kind he will always come to mind. I received a lot of great counsel from him.

Trevor is in the background...Tressa's husband. Not only were the women awesome out there the men were great too.

Here was my first friend in Fernley. Marilyn J. This is the lady who's house we are at. Talk about a great example of staying busy and trying new things. She was a great woman with a wonderful husband Kay. They were always so nice to me and my family I will miss them. My boys will too.

I wish I had pictures of all the girls I hung out with so I could write about them all but I only have a few. This is Adelia and she was a good friend. We did the political scene a few times together. We attended a tea party with all our kids in tow when it was freezing and snowing. And we went to a city meeting I think around 5 pm and didn't leave until after 11 pm! We had fun together.

Here is Janie. I probably hung out with her the most in Fernley. We got to know each other because we were visiting teaching partners. When I first meet her I found her very interesting and foreign, meaning different from how I was. She was what I called "granola" if you know what I mean. I have to say that she rubbed off on me big time though....for the better. She has influenced me in ways that I will always appreciate. I will never drink a pop in peace again thanks to her!

Fernley was such a special place. I hope to see all these ladies again one day. I will always look back at my four year stay there with fondness.

Some Things We Have Been Doing in Utah

One of the major reasons we came to Utah is because of family! Above the kids are with some of their cousins. My Aunt Denise let us come down for a visit and we had a great time there. They were so welcoming to us and the kids had a lot of fun. Cole meet Kandace, I think for the first time last December and ever since he is always talking about her. I actually think this is his first crush. Well, when he saw her after all these months of talking about her he totally froze up and acted all embarrassed. It was the funniest thing.

Wow, I think we are really going to see some major snow here. This was a little storm we had one day. It snowed more that day than I think I saw all year in Nevada. The boys had a blast. We made some snowmen and they had a snowball fight.

This is Cole at his Halloween parade. It was so cute to see him walk around with his class. (I still can not get over the fact that I have a child in school now. ) I worry about him and hope he is making friends at his new school. He has always been ahead but when I meet with his teacher she said he is actually behind! It was very frustrating for me to find that out. We have been working diligently the last few weeks nightly and getting him up to speed. I think he is going to do great. I keep telling myself "Its just kindergarten."

After school today we meet up with Jaime and her kids and went to Gardner Village. A really cute place where you can pet animals, shop, eat and do some other things. I think I would have had a lot more fun if I was not FREEZING. I have got to get mine and my kids winter wardrobe together...this is defiantly not Fernley.

Here we all are. We had a crowd of kids. It has been really fun hanging out with them since we have been here. The day we moved in Jaime did the sweetest thing for us. She brought us a cooler full of drinks and some snacks. Plus, they had us over for dinner I think 2 or 3 nights in a row. It has been nice being together again.

Carson's First Day of Preschool

I am really sad that Carson was not able to have the full preschool experience. A few of us in Fernley got together and were doing a joy school. We started up a few weeks before we moved. He was in a great group with some really neat moms...hopefully I can find a group here.

Carson is almost four and is such a good boy. We are going through another major tantrum stage with him when you tell him no to something he wants, but besides the "normal" freak outs he is such a sweet, thoughtful, polite, little guy. He is so easy going.

Mud Fun and Morgan's Birthday

This is the boys and Olivia playing out back while Janie and I chat it up inside. This is the last time the boys got a chance to play with Olivia. The last few days we were in Fernley the boys both got sick...bad. It was terrible so we never got a chance to hang out again.

As the pictures show they had fun, especially Cole (he got the filthiest)!

This one is so cute. The boys both stripped down to there undies and just got dirty. It was fun to watch them play and have so much fun. I was impressed that Olivia got a little dirty too. I miss all the fun play days we would have with our friends in Fernley. The boys had some great friends to play with there.

This was Morgan's 1st birthday! Look how cute those little lips are!!!! She is such a good girl.

She is saying a few words not many. She is walking very good and loves to play with Carson. She will just walk up to him and give him a hug. Morgan is very lovey too. She kisses her toys and will randomly come up to me or her daddy and pucker up. I love having my little girl.

Life Is About Change, Right?

I believe the answer to that questions is yes! Isn't it funny that I can understand that concept in theory but the application of that in the real world is so darn hard.



So we moved!!! It has been in the works since July but it came to fruition the end of September, which was a surprise. The whole process has been highly educational, inspiring, stressful, stressful and stressful. This is something that I have wanted for a long time. And for it to have happened is a major blessing. So it was very surprising for me to all of a sudden have what I wanted and then realize that it would be very hard to go through with it.



I have loved my home in Nevada. I grew so much and made such wonderful friendships. I can not speak highly enough of my experiences there and the people that influenced me.



However, I am now a resident of Utah. Very, very strange. We have been here a month now and I have got my directions down, my grocery stores, been to church , finally got my visiting teaching route, got Cole's school schedule down, and have been visiting with family and a few friends. It is starting to feel a little normal...but it is not what I am used to.



I have learned that change is something that I know is necessary and needed, and for most of the time I think, I welcome it. But the kind of change that takes you out of your comfort zone of friendships, and your normal everyday routine is hard for me. This whole move really made me realize I am not as strong and resilient as I thought I was. I am not saying that realization is bad though. It has been humbling.

I love where I am headed with my new home but I still cloud up over my old one.

Eventful August

Cole is a kindergartner! I can't believe it. Michael and I were so excited for him and he was very excited himself. The night before we had a little role play on different situations that could arise at school and how to handle them. We spoke of principles such as honesty, kindness, hard work and prayer.

I know I can't shield him from bad influences that will come his way but I CAN prepare for them and teach him what to do in those situations. Living the gospel and trying to teach it to the kids really brings me peace. I know that there is power that will keep my little boy safe and I want to do everything I can to tap into that.

Michael gave him his first blessing too after our little lesson. It was such a special moment. I can't even describe it.

Cole is so amazingly smart. He is very outgoing as well. It was not hard to let him go because he was so ready for it. I think he has been going for 3 weeks now and it is going so well.

And of course I have been in heaven minus one! That first week felt so wonderful. I was ready too! It has given me the opportunity to have really great one on one time with Carson.


Here is the second major event that happened. Cole started soccer!

I thought this was cute. This picture demonstrates all I have to learn from Michael. Okay, so it was Cole's turn to bring snacks to soccer. If I was in charge I would have just put goldfish in zip lock bags for all the kids and would have called it good (which was what I was planning to do until Mike heard me say that.) Michael on the other hand really makes it special for Cole and the other kids. (I just don't think like that....but I want to.) So he puts together these little oranges, scooby do snacks, and something else and puts them in baggies. Then he gets these drinks but not just one for each kid. He buys two different kinds so they can choose which they want. I thought that was so special. I bet that makes Cole feel good to bring such a good treat and the kids feel good for getting one. I need lots of help in the giving department.

The 3rd major event... our 7 year anniversary! This was a really fun night. I was going to take him to a nice dinner and then go do something fun like miniature golf or bowling or whatever he wanted to do. Well, on our way in he brought up us jumping off this bungee (sp) swing in Reno. I surprised him and said, "Lets do it." I think we just wanted to prove to each other that we could still be crazy and spontaneous. Well, I prayed the whole way up and cussed the whole way down. (I only swore once actually.) This thing took us both up 250 feet and then Mike pulled the cord and it dropped us. I don't remember the fall I just remember swinging for awhile.

We had a great laugh and proved that we were still young and crazy even after 7 years of marriage.