Pic of the day

Here's my little cowboy :)

Birthday Reflections

So today is my 25th birthday. It's kind of crazy that that many years has come and gone. I'm still pretty set on the fact I feel like I'm 18 still. I really do feel like I've come a long way since then (obviously a husband and two kids later) but emotionally I'm much more stable (don't ask my husband about that one;)and I feel I have learned a lot in the past 7 years but I still feel like I could be in high school. And then there is a part of me that is starting to feel old. I see my young women that were my Beehives when I got put in young women turning into Laurels and I am floored. Little girls I used to babysit are graduating highschool now. My little sister is all married and big. Despite mixed emotions, I'm so grateful for the wonderful life that I have right now. I never would have dreamed that my life would be where it is right now almost 7 years after I graduated but wow, what a blessing. I have a hard-working, generous husband who loves me unconditionally, two beautiful children who love me and I am their MOM. That person that represents their world right now. It is a big responsibility but such a blessing. I am a certified interpreter (my dream since i was twelve), a young woman leader, a daughter to two wonderful parents who I am learning more and more everyday are amazing people. And I have the gospel in it's fullness in my life and the Lord watching over me. I could not ask for one more thing! I went to lunch today with my Mom, Sister (Kelsi), and Grandma. My grandma started talking about when I was born. She was down visiting and she had to go home because my Grandpa had to get back to teach and she said she cried the entire way from Phoenix to Monroe, Ut because she knew my mom needed her and she was abandoning her when she needed her so much. So when they got home my grandpa sent her on a plane back to help my mom. My mom mentioned how bad she had needed her at that time. I guess I was really sick at the time and Teona was potty-trained but was reverting back to having accidents all the time and my mom was ready to give up. So it was such a blessing for my grandma to come and help her through that time. I had never heard that story but it was really special to me. I know my aunt lived with us when I was a baby too and would always stay up rocking me in the night but other than that I don't know a lot about me as a baby. I do remember one story my mom told me that she left me in my crib one day with a bottle and I had bit the nipple off somehow and almost drown in my milk it scared her to death. It's kind of crazy that we don't remember anything past a certain point. I wonder hwo much of that is because of the veil and that we actually do still remember things... I think my earliers memory was when I was about 3 and we went to Sea World... Anyway, kind of a random post but important to remember for future days or maybe my kids will be interested someday. PS: I really have wonderful caring friends :)

So for my birthday I heard you could get a free grand slam for your birthday so I took the kids to breakfast. I'm not a big fan of breakfast food but enjoyed some hot chocolate and some fruit while the kids downed the rest. Their fave was the fruit and eggs for sure. Then I vowed I wouldn't clean all day which was SUPER hard for me but it was so fun to just sit and enjoy the kids for the day. At noon I went to lunch with my Gram, Kels, and Mom. We went and got salads at the Pizza Factory (Yum) then I started feeling kind of sick so I came home and took a nap with the kids. That evening my mom took the kids and Jeff came and picked me up in his mom's brand new convertible which is SO fun to ride in and we went to dinner. You will laugh where I wanted to go for dinner. My all-time fav thing is this sandwhich in the mall at Cornerstone Bakery called the Turkey Cucumber. Delicious! So we went there then shopped around a bit then went home. We also had to stop at Walmart and grab the movie Tangled which came out yesterday. I LOVE that show. Super cute. That was pretty much  my day. It was great and Danelle and Cassie stopped by to drop off sweet presents and I got so many emails and texts it was very sweet. Thanks again to all my well-wishers!

Bathroom Remodel

Our hideous master bathroom before:

So we started this bathroom re-model like 6 months ago and we finally finished TODAY :) I just put the finishing touches a few hours ago. I must give 90% of the credit to my husband. (I get 10% for painting and decorating). He basically re-tiled the entire bathroom. He took out our disgusting plastic shower and built a new one and did a beautiful job. He also tiled over our countertop, put in a new toilet, new sink, new faucet, and a new light fixture. Not to mention the cupboards that he built and the new doors he made for our cupboards. It was a LOT of work but it is SO wonderful to feel excited to go into my bathroom instead of dreading it. So here are the before and after. Gotta say it one more time I LOVE it.

Drum roll please... the AFTER:

I am still looking for a decoration of some sort to hang on the wall so any ideas are welcome!

I have the cutest kids in the world!

I have been doing some educational interpreting this past year and I absolutely love my students I interpret for BUT it is really hard to be away from my kids consistently in the middle of the day. Granted it is only two hours two times a week and they go over to my amazing friend, Teria's, house so I think they really enjoy it but still there is that twinge of guilt and desire to be with them ALL the time EVERY-day. But I guess they need a break from their crazy mom every once in awhile. Haha.

 Anyway, Teria has been amazing at watching them and she even sends me pics she takes occasionally of my kids which are super fun. She took these yesterday so I just had to post thesepics of my adorable kids. I love these pics of Jaston because it shows his wide range of facial expressions; he is super funny with all his "Looks"

Notice all my kids bumps and bruises on their HEADS. They have been hitting their heads on everything lately!

Signing over Whining!

Today Jaston signed "Baby". He saw a baby on the TV and got all excited and was pointing so I showed him the sign and the next time the baby came on the TV he signed it. Right after that he was eating some cereal and he started to whine and point behind me. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about and then I looked back at him and he was concentrating so hard and signing "More." I got excited and said, "You want more? Please?"  and he signed Please! I was super excited and then to top it all off he signed "Thank-You" after and then "All Done". So I am one proud Mama!

And gotta add as I was typing this he was watching Baby Signing Time and just signed "Hat." And the communication has begun!

I remember drilling signing into Skylee because I had heard that babies could sign like super early- like 6 months. I gave up at about a year deciding she would never sign and then one day she just started signing a whole bunch so maybe we are there with Jaston or maybe it's just a few signs but still it is SUPER nice to get a sign rather than a whine.

What Happens in Vegas...

We went down to Vegas to meet with some wonderful friends and family. We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch then the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, then we went on the strip and took Sky to the M & M Factory, Coke Factory, and went to Bellagio. Thanks to my sweet sisters we were able to let the baby stay in St. George and play while we took Skylee for a special trip.

We had so much fun.

c

Update

So I realized I have been posting lots and lots of pics but haven't been writing too much about what is going on in life now. I know they aren't as interesting of posts but when I print my book I want to look back and know what was going on this time in our lives. 

     So let's see I will start with Jeff. He is currently working full time in the ICU as a nurse. So he works three 12 hour shifts a week (which are random, thankfully days though). On his other three days off he has been trying to get clinical hours in so he normally does ten hour shifts at his clinical site which right now is the Sunset Clinic with Kris Carter. She has been such a blessing because she has basically been the only doctor willing to accept Jeff that is already credentialed. See, you have to go through this paperwork process and then have someone come do a site-visit which is basically impossible(since Jeff's school is based in Kentucky) before you can do clinicals anywhere. I guess I should explain why he is doing clinicals anyway. Jeff is in the Master's program online at Frontier School of Nursing based in Kentucky. He will be working toward becoming a Nurse Practitioner.He is doing amazing.  This is (hopefully) his last semester as long as he can get all six hundred something hours of his clinicals done. Our problem right now is he has to get specific types of visits. He can get most of them with Kris but there is one type of visit he can't get that he needs a specialized doctor to allow him to come for forty visits. Unfortunately we can't find ANYONE that is willing to fill out the paperwork, take a student, and if they are we can't get his site-coordinator to come do a site visit until May which is when he is supposed to be done or we get to pay another (large) chunk of money for another semester. Our plan is to be done by the end of May since we booked a cruise in celebration but we will see if it happens or not. Jeff is right on track to finish other than our little set-back of not finding this specialized NP/doc. 

      Jeff is currently serving in the Young Men's presidency of the LDS church as the second counselor. He is currently thinking he might want to run the marathon this year and his most recent hobby is he is working on building a model-airplane out of matchsticks. 

     Now for me: I'm serving as the Young Women's second counselor and adore it! I have been in Young Women's now for almost four years and hope I never get released. I am working for USDB (Utah School for the Deaf and Blind) and interpret a few days a week at a high school. I enjoy it but am grateful the school year will be over soon. I won't be doing something so regular next semester. I really want to be home with my kids more. It's funny because it is only a few hours twice a week but I just don't want to be away from my family that regularly. I also am a free-lance interpreter through a company called Interpreter Connection. They are amazing! They call me if there are assignments in the community that need interpreting. I love doing free lance because it is rarely the same thing when they call to see if I can do a job I never know what to expect. I've had some really fun assignments. They are super understanding that my family comes first. Occasionally they assign me a college class to take for the full semester, that is fun too. 

     Last year in October I passed my Level one Utah Certification (Novice level). I now have four years to pass my professional level test or take the National (NIC). So I applied this year for a program called ICAN (Interpreter Certification Advancement Network). It's objective is to take interpreters at level one and get them ready to take the level two test. I got accepted and started this month. It's basically like going back to school... in Salt Lake. I have monthly meetings in Salt Lake and three times during the year I go up for something called "Immersion Weekends." Basically it's intense, no talking, interpreting training (and some fun) for four days. When I'm here I meet with mentors- I have an interpreter mentor (Andrea) and a Deaf mentor (Stephanie). I do homework and meetings once a week. It has been nice in a way because for a long time I felt this pressure of I need to be studying but didn't really know what to study. Now I have some guidance and I really appreciate it. They have been super helpful this year and are paying me and Robin for travel reimbursement, the program is free, and they are getting us camera equipment so we can film ourselves and post them online for our mentors to see. So I am grateful for their effort in including us down south. 

    As for the kids- Jaston is 15 months and super busy. I have found that boys are VERY different from girls. But I love it. He is starting to understand a lot more, sign some more, talk a little, and is just developing a super fun personality. He is also becoming more independent which is WAY nice. He has been super clingy and dependent since he was born so I'm finally starting to feel like I have a bit of freedom back. 

    Skylee is 3 1/2. She is the spunkiest, thoughtful, sensitive, cute, and stubborn little three year old I have ever seen. Man do I love that girl and get frustrated with this girl. I've heard three is a tough year so I'm hoping we can get through this one in one piece. 

    So that's a basic overview of the family and what we are up to right now. I will update as new things come along but for now.. Ta-Ta

A Horsie Party

Skylee's favorite friend, Lydia, had a birthday party last month and they had a cowgirl party. Skylee had a blast. They got to play tug-of-war, pin the badge on the sheriff, they got to ride a horse and they hit the pinata. The kids had so much fun. This was Skylee's first time on a horse and of course she had no fear and LOVED it.

Here are a few pics, thanks to my sweet friend Brandi (I forgot my camera).

Emmett and Skylee riding the horsie

Skylee, EJ, Kason and Lydia (the birthday girl)

Skylee couldn't get enough of the animals

Our fun events today...

Today Skylee got to go to a birthday party at Little Chefz and make her own Calzone and mini cake. She loved it and while she was partying Jaston got to be a BOY and play in the dirt and hang with Grandma and Grandpa. Here's a few pics from the day.

Insight

So I was reading the Book of Mormon this morning and studying some and it was interesting because I was just telling Jeff last night how much I loved the scripture that says: "I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; they walls are continually before thee." What a powerful scripture, He can't forget us I love it! Anyway right before that it says: "Can a woman forget her sucking child... Yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee."

    In a book I'm reading that comments on B.O.M. verses it talks about how Christ's scars can be paralleled to a woman never forgetting her child. Often a woman has permanent scars on her as well from giving birth that she will carry with her the rest of her life to "remind her always of the profound sacrifices involved in giving birth. Similarly, the resurrected Savior carries with Him the permanent physical marks of the nail prints in His hands and feet- marks that remind us of profound and incomprehensible sacrifice He wrought for each of us."

    That really made me think back. I actually have one stretch mark on my belly from the actual delivery. Skylee wasn't turned the right way and the doctor had Jeff push on my belly to flip her and I actually cherish that scar because it is a reminder of not only the sacrificie but the incredible joy that brought into my life and the AMAZING process of working with Heavenly Father to bring a spirit into this world. In a lot of ways birth can be paralleled with Christ's sacrifice that I had never thought of before. Although it is a painful experience, it is part of the plan and the rewards far out-weigh the pain and anguish accompanied. Anyway, just thought I would share that insight into mother-hood and the Atonement.

The Engagement

Ok, so I had a request for the engagement story. I tried to go find my journal but I can't find it right now so I will go by memory. :) That's good cuz I can make up stuff if I feel like it... jk. 

    Well, I guess a good place to start was we technically never went ring shopping but we went with our friends who were ring shopping and I fell in love with a ring because it was unique. It had this band that fit into the ring in a really cool way. I love unique stuff so I was sold. (Not that I was choosing a ring or anything we were not getting married;) So quite awhile later I remember it was close to Halloween time because I was at a kids Halloween party I was in charge of with a group of friends from my ASL class. Jeff went with me and we were going to meet his Mom to go to a movie. I remember being stressed because we needed to go but I felt bad leaving my group without help and we were going to miss the movie but Jeff was really chill and just said it's okay we can go to a later movie. ( When I look back there were a lot of clues I could have clued into figure it out but I'm not super good at noticing things like that). Plus he told me we were going ring shopping the next day so I figured he really couldn't ask me.

    Anywho, we finally decided to go and we left the party. Jeff said we needed to go to his mom's classroom before we could go to the movie to pick up her debit card. So we pull into her school and Jeff gets out to go get the card (supposedly...) and he asks me to go with him. I'm thinking (really, you can't walk into a building by yourself?) so whatever I got out and walked in with him and this is what I saw (Well this and Jeff kneeling down asking me if I will marry him).

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Dont know if you can read this but it was a whole bulletin board of third graders asking me to marry Jeff- super cute I actually still have it in my cedar chest (sorry that's kinda useless info).

So I told him that I would and he gave me a hug and kiss and we danced and then we had our favorite dessert Baskin Robbin Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream with chocolate on top. Supposedly his friends were across the way trying to watch on the school roof and somewhere there was a video recorder going on but I still haven't seen that tape.. hm... 

And that my friends is the story...

Past few days...

Had to take a pic of Skylee's choice of attire today. Made me laugh.

And then the other day my friend told me about this book called "Unplugged Play," and this was one activity she mentioned so I tried it out. The kids loved it. Basically you just put something down to cover your floor give them bowls of water and utensils and let them at it. :) They had fun and I was able to clean my kitchen while they were near me but not holding onto my legs and whining :) We were all happy.

Our Story

So I just saw on my friend's blog the story about how her and he husband met and fell in love and I realiized I don't think I have ever fully told that story. And since this is our family journal I think it is important to have that documented so here goes...

Jeff and I met in a class at DSC. Because our birthdays were close together we were put together in the same group and sat at the same table all semester. I was dating another guy at the time so to be honest I wasn't really paying attention to other guys so Jeff was always a friend. I guess my first impression of Jeff came one day when I ran into him at the store one night. Our group had a project to do the next day and he was supposed to cook some cookies. He told me while he was there he was buying the cookies, heading to work all night and somehow going to make the cookies and get to class with no sleep. So I told him I would make the cookies for him since I didn't have to work a graveyard shift. It was no biggie. So I did and we had our project. But the thing that really impressed me was a few days later he came to my work at the mall and brought me flowers (hand-picked) as a thank you for making the cookies for him. I was SUPER impressed. I knew he knew I had a boyfriend at the time so I didn't feel like it was him coming onto me I just felt like it was a genuine thank you. (Funny side-story my bf picked me up that night and I had to hide the flowers... although I knew it was innocent I wasn't sure he would haha).

SO... we finished out the semester I ended up breaking up with my bf in about March for no other reason than one night I was praying and felt a strong prompting that I needed to break up with him. At the time I didn't understand why and I broke up with him but was devastated for weeks. In hindsight I see why now because Jeff and my relationship was on a deadline and it happened in perfect timing or it wouldn't have worked.

Around May I was still wallowing in self-pity and I was sitting in the parking lot of Old Navy feeling bummed and I got a text from Jeff. (I didn't even know there was text back then...) but I remember it being a text and he asked me to come over and hang. So I decided I had to get over this guy and move on (Jeff says he was just my rebound but whatever) So I went over to his friend's house and hung out and it was fun. I forgot to mention that throughout the semester we had been playing indoor soccer together.

      So we went on our first date soon after that and we had Subway sandwiches in the park and I was amazed by how easy Jeff was to talk to and how much everything we talked about kept turning back to the LDS Church. I felt we had a lot of the same interests and I just felt really good about it. I remember thinking that this guy was different than any other guy I had met before. So we continued dating and did the usual progression, dating, holding  hands, first kiss on Zen Wall. Now you have to realize that from our first date until I had to leave was 2 weeks. By the end of the two weeks I was falling in love and Jeff was pretty confident I was "the one." (I like telling the story I can say what I want).

       So the night before I left for Alaska to work for the summer Jeff made this AMAZING dinner for me. I am super naive and he had been asking me all my favorite things through out the week and I didn't realize it was all for this night. It was in his parents backyard, surrounded by a circle of candles, my fav. flowers on the table, fav. color napkin, fav. everything topped off with my all time favorite dessert- Baskin robbins mint chocolate chip ice cream with chocolate on top ( I think he had my heart when he brought that out :). Then he had music playing and we danced in the grass for hours. That was the night I said I love you and left the next morning with a new bf. He also gave me this beautiful CTR ring (a hint.. probably).

     Alaska was fun and really good for our relationship. I have a tendency to push boys away as soon as they start to get close. So my time away was good because even though we had only been dating for two weeks I started to really MISS him. It was crazy cuz we didn't even know each other. But he sent me letters and packages. I started to think k, moving way too fast and started to stress. So one day I went for a run in the woods (it was GORGEOUS there) and knelt down and prayed to Heavenly Father and I was so overcome with peace. My answer was to not stress about it; everything would work out how it was supposed to.

     I came home and Jeff picked me up at the airport (bless his heart my flight was delayed overnight in Seattle so he had to stay in Vegas overnight with just the clothes on his back). We dated for several months then Jeff started talking marriage. I prayed and prayed and just didn't feel like I was getting an answer. One day while I was at the visitor's center I ran into a sister I had been doing splits with and I really respected/loved. She stopped and sat down with me in front of the Christus and one thing she told me really hit home. She said, "You know, it may not be your time right now to serve a mission, you will be able to serve, just maybe not now." I left the Temple visitor's center in tears, I had received my answer. Heavenly Father had been trying to confirm to me that I was supposed to marry Jeff but my stubborn heart was holding to the fact that I was going to serve a mission. Heavenly Father had chosen to speak to me through that beloved Sister missionary. 

      We were engaged the end of October. 

 (Jeff's Mom's third graders did this)

We decided on Spring break for the wedding. Then that seemed too long so we thought maybe in January but the temple was closed so what date did we choose? 

December 30, 2005 was the date we were sealed for time and all eternity in the St. George Utah Temple. What an incredible blessing! 

      We were married for 9 months and I started feeling strongly that we were supposed to have a baby, one day in the temple I talked to Jeff about it and he told me, 'I have been ready all along I was just waiting for you.' So one month later we found out we were pregnant and 9 months later on July 24, 2007 Our little Skylee came to us.

 Followed 2 and a half years later by her little brother on December 12, 2009 Jaston was born. 

     Wow, that was quite the LONG story and believe it or not there was quite a bit left out but that is the essentials. I love my dear eternal companion and am learning from him everyday. I love my children and know that they were meant to come to us and Heavenly Father has a mission for them that I need to help them fulfill. I appreciate His guidance in my life and His influence in helping me find and marry my sweetheart and begin our eternal family.