Sunday Stroll at Coronado

I love Sundays.  I love that Andy doesn't have work and that our whole day revolves around being together as a family.

After church and dinner we went to Coronado Island and walked around the beach.  Its such a blessing to live in such a beautiful place and experience its beauty.

Cute girls at the historical Coronado Hotel.

A local sand artist made this really amazing sand castle in honor of the victims of 9/11.

Ellie is so happy at the beach and Penny loves being on her Daddy's shoulders.

I love my family.  I'm so grateful to be a wife and mother, to love and be loved in return is so rewarding.

5th Anniversary

We had our 5th wedding anniversary on August 6th.  It ended up being an all weekend celebration.

On our actual anniversary Andy and I went out to dinner in Salt Lake and walked around City Creek. We love Ellie, but it was so nice to go out to dinner alone.

The next day we went with Ellie and hiked to the Timpanogos caves.  Ellie was a trooper all the way up and we all loved the caves.  It was so amazing to see what is inside the mountain.

On Saturday Andy and I went out one last time and saw Mission Impossible 5.

I love Andy so much.  He really is my soul mate and my best friend.  He understands me and accepts me like no one else.  He is a wonderful father, and I am so grateful that Ellie, Thomas and Penny have him as their Daddy.

The Weekend

I felt like garbage on Saturday.  I'm so glad that Andy was home and that I could lounge on the couch all day and sleep.  It was exactly what the doctor ordered.

In the afternoon we were all feeling a little stir crazy and went out to pick up patches and pins for cub scouts (which Andy and I are both apart of).  We also had a gift card to Sees Candy and we stopped there and realized how much chocolate you get with a one pound gift certificate. 

A child's version of heaven

We brought Cafe Rio home and watched The Incredibles for the rest of the night.

So delicious

I woke up feeling so much better on Sunday and made pumpkin waffles and bacon for breakfast.  I love having late church now.

I also just love Sundays in general.  We have nothing else going one usually, except for church, and its wonderful to have that uninterrupted family time.

Cool girl coming home from church

Helping Dad make dinner

Fall Walk in the Mountains

I have a list of things that I want to do this fall, and we've steadily been marking things off the list.  Yesterday we went up Provo canyon and went walking on the Big Springs Hollow trail.

It was so beautiful, it was hard to tear my eyes away from the trees.  Something I really missed while we lived in Florida was the leaves changing.

We brought a lunch and stopped and had a picnic in a little shaded glen next to a stream.  It could not have been a more lovely spot.

Andy climbed a tree with a monkey on his back

Birthday Weekend

I turned 26 yesterday.  I feel the same way I did at 25, so there you go.

On Saturday we went down to Daytona Beach and met up with Paige and Ryan.  We had a great time!  The weather was perfect and the water felt amazing!

Ellie's attempt at a sand castle

Afterwards we all went to Texas Roadhouse and it was delicious, of coarse. 

Paige and Ryan spent the night and in the morning, on my actual birthday, Andy made everyone breakfast and then we all went to the La Chua trail, which is a great place to see alligators.  We saw full size, baby, and what we deemed, a teenager sized alligators.

Cuties

Andy and Ryan were willing to get a closer to the gators than Paige and I were

When we got home we all got ready and went to church, and after sacrament Paige and Ryan had to head home back to Georgia.
That evening we went over to the weekly potluck and I was so lucky to have not one, but two cakes!  Andy made one and the Grantos, who host the potluck, also had a cake for me. 
We are so blessed for the friends that we have made out here and how they have become our family.  I'm going to miss them so much!

So here's to 26, hopefully it is better than 25 was.

THAT married couple

I was reflecting today on my life.  Specifically the fact that I never wanted to be THAT married couple. 

• The couple that has children before they're done with school
• The couple that live with their parents to save some money 
• The couple that won't have a permanent place to call home until at least their early 30's
• The couple who have a futon (and sleeps on it)

I could go on, but I think I've made my point.

I've done all of these.  I was especially adamant about not living with parents, and we lived with Andy's parents for 4 month's.

But you know, I wouldn't trade the life I've led for anything.  Sure we are poor as the church mouse, but we are rich with love and devotion to each other.  I haven't cared about a single one these things as they have happened.  We have always had all we needed; food on the table, a roof over our head, and a family to call our own. 

I wish I could tell that girl that she won't give mite about any of those things she judged others for so easily.  That she would do all of them, and be so happy anyways.  That she would cherish this time when they had nothing, but felt like they had everything. 

I'm so grateful for all the wonderful people we have met through living in different places, who welcomed us and made us feel like we were apart of their family.  People who love our sweet Thomas even though they have never met him, and recognize him as member of our family.

 I'm grateful that I've been able to see so much of the amazing and diverse country that we live in, and all the adventures I've been able to go on with my little family.

Yellowstone

I suppose what I'm getting at, is that you can have this idea of what your life should be, but then life happens, and things happen that you could never have anticipated.  You don't have dwell on what you think should have been, though sometimes that is easier said than done.  Accept the challenges that life gives you, and find the joy.  Make it work some how.  Life will be so much better spent if you do.

How Lovely Was the Morning

Normally I hate 1 pm church.  It starts right when Ellie's nap is supposed to start, and she is CRANKY the rest of the day.  However, it is nice to have a slow paced Sunday morning.

Today was particularly beautiful for some reason.    As I typed that out I realized why this morning has been so peaceful.  Today Thomas would be 7 months old, and it just feels like a gift from him to have everything so nice.

I opened the sliding doors and let the fresh morning air in, (something I've never been able to do in January before).   The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and Ellie was helping me make pancakes.

 The words from the hymn "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" popped into my head.

"Oh, how lovely was the morning!

Radiant beamed the sun above.

Bees were humming, sweet birds singing,

Music ringing thru the grove,"

I love these moments, the moments that you leave you thinking, "this is the life".

Christmas 2013

We had a nice low key Christmas this year.  It was the first time that we have spent Christmas by our self and it was nice to relax and create some traditions.

We completed our 25 days of service, and I'm really glad that we did it.  For next year I'll defiantly be more organized and have everything planned beforehand, because we did some things several times, and I feel like we could have done more.  It was so nice to do, because I tended to dwell on my grief for Thomas a lot, and doing things for others really helps to pull me out of a funk.

On Christmas Eve Andy had to work during the day, and so Ellie and I mostly stayed at home.  We made cookies for Santa, and watched "Curious George Christmas", so pretty much a perfect day for Ellie.  When Andy got home we had sub sandwiches (traditional on my side of the family).  Then we read "Polar Express" and drove around looking at lights and drinking hot chocolate.  When we got home we read scriptures about the birth of Christ and put Ellie to bed.

Making Cookies

Before leaving to look at lights

Christmas morning we opened presents and made breakfast and lounged around most of the day.  For dinner we went over to a good friends house.  We had a really nice time there and Ellie LOVED drinking her juice from a fancy little cup.

So Excited!

Christmas Breakfast

Little Lady

Even Ellie had a fancy spot

She loved this cup

We really missed seeing our families, but we were grateful that we were still able to talk to everyone.