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.