Our 6th Anniversary

Tomorrow Aug. 28th is our 6th wedding anniversary. It will be pretty low key since we already celebrated earlier in the month. I still remember how nervous I was that morning and the tremendous peace I felt when I saw Eli walking toward me. Just another of the many confirmations that he is the one for me. What a wonderful day it was and how many other great blessings have come into our lives since then. In those 6 years we bought a home and had two beautiful children and now have number three on the way. Eli finished his bachelor's degree and is doing a fabulous job as our provider, so I can stay home with our children. There are days when I miss having so much time for the two of us, but we love being parents. We realize it is just a short time we will have little ones to take up almost all of our attention, so we are okay sacrificing some of our couple time for them. I think another sacrifice we make is living on one income which also makes it hard to get away as a couple for date nights. Regardless of the blessings and challenges we have had in the past 6 years, I am glad we have all of eternity to continue to celebrate, sacrifice, work, experience joy, learn from each other, etc. Thanks Eli for putting up with me the last 6 years and for your commitment, patience, forgiveness, devotion, and your unconditional love! Thanks also for being such a great dad!

I just wanted to add one more comment that is unrelated to our anniversary. Lately Beck has been pointing to the pictures of Jesus and calling him "Daddy". I think it is kind of cute and kind of profound at the same time. Maybe he is in the phase where every male is "daddy", but I'd like to think there is more to it than that.

Family Reunion

Every year my family has a family reunion in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. My dad was in charge this year and he did a great job. Eli helped with some of the cooking and I helped with some of the fundraising stuff for next year's reunion. I felt kind of guilty because I was selling the tickets for the quilt drawing and I actually won the quilt. A lot of people teased me about that, but I had my grandma pick the ticket and I made sure I mixed up the tickets. My dad said it was my reward for helping out. Kate had a lot of fun on vacation. She got to float down the Portneuf River with her Daddy and swim in our hotel's private hot pool.

I asked Kate was her favorite part of the vacation was thinking she would say the river float with daddy or something, but she said it was when her cousin Kiaya gave her a piece of gum. That was the best part of the vacation... kind of funny.

Beck and I went to the private hot pool to wait for Kate and daddy. We saw a squirrel and it was so funny hearing Beck try to say squirrel. It sounded kind of like "quirl". The hot pools were very relaxing on my achy back. We also got to eat out for dinner and breakfast which was definitely not a highlight since we ended up waiting for like 20 minutes before they took our order and then our food would come and they hadn't even brought us drinks. I would usually have to ask some other employee for drink refils. I noticed that everyone around us was getting better service which is frustrating. Maybe it was because we had small children with us-who knows. It was still better than last year's rancid microwaved steak or the two hour wait the year before that for our pizza at the Pizza place. That is one thing I can say about Lava is that the dinner service is horrible. At least our hotel was nice. The bed was hard as a rock, but it was nice to have a clean, well-kept up hotel with a fridge, jetted tub and microwave.

We didn't ever make it to the regular swimming pool, but it is a lot of work with little kids anyway. My dad has a pool so we hope to swim there a few more times before summer is over. I didn't get any other pictures of the reunion because our camera was having problems luckily Eli was able to save the river float pictures. I hope our camera will last until we can get a new one probably for Christmas.

About Me Tag #2

Dani tagged me and this will be the second time I have posted a Tag, so I have adjusted it a bit to make it less repetitive and less obvious answer questions. I hope it is interesting and if you feel like responding or posting this on your own blog great, but I don’t like tagging or putting pressure on anyone to respond. You can see all 30 questions at Dani’s blog and if you want to refer back to my previous tag you can visit the blog entry from April 25th: About me Tag.
(X ) Gone on a blind date
( x ) Skipped school
( ) Been to Canada
(X) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Florida
( X ) Been on a plane
( X ) Been lost
(X) Gone to Washington , DC
( X ) Swam in the ocean
( X ) Cried yourself to sleep
( x ) Played cops and robbers
( x ) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Sang Karaoke
( ) Paid for a meal with coins only
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t
( X ) Made prank phone calls
( x ) Laughed until a beverage came out of your nose
( X ) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( X ) Danced in the rain & snow
( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
() Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched a sunset with someone you care about
( X ) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X ) Been skinny dipping outdoors
( X ) Gone to a drive-in movie theatre
1. Nickname(s): none that I will ever repeat (they were not nice ones)
2. Mother's first name? Patricia
3. Favorite drink? Anything fruity and slushy
7. Pet(s)? We have two perculas and a Blue Damsel which we have never named, but every little kid calls them Nemo, Nemo’s dad and Dori.
11. Ever been on TV? Yes a news crew came to my history class and interviewed several students about testing. I wasn’t interviewed, but they told us to pretend to be taking a test and they filmed me close up for a couple minutes pretending to take a test.
12. Ever steal any traffic signs? No, but I vaguely recall stealing barricades with friends to put on other peoples lawns.
13. Ever been in a car accident? Luckily no, but I did use to back into stationary objects when I first got my license. That’s what happens when an inexperienced driver has to use the family station wagon. Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear!
15. Favorite salad dressing? Ranch, Ceasar, Café Rio Vinegarette and Red Robins poppy seed dressing (anything with lots of fat).
16. Favorite pie? Triple Berry, Warm Toll House pie, Dutch apple with carmel and vanilla ice cream, and pumpkin to start. Can you tell I use to work at a pie bakery/restraunt?
17. Favorite number(s)? 28 (my birthday, graduation from High school, anniversary, and my son’s birthday are all on the 28th).
19. Favorite thing to feel? Hot water on my back.
22 .Favorite day of the week? Saturday
26. What do you do to relax? Hot showers/baths, drive in the car with good music playing, garden, walk/hike.
27.What do you see yourself doing in 10 years? Kate will be 13 and Beck will be 11-Yikes! I will probably have one or two more kids as well. I just hope I will be able to keep my sanity when my kids are entering their teens.

Dance Class

Kate loves to dance and she is always making up dances to show me and even gives them names. She loves dressing up in her princess or dance clothes and twirling around saying "watch me mamma". I kept thinking some day I will have to get her in dance classes. I didn't want to get too involved in activities too early on and become frazzled and overwhelmed from all the kids activities. I thought I would put it off as long as possilbe, without denying her the opportunity to be able to develop her talents and express her interest. Well, many of the 3-5 year olds in our neighborhood are taking dance and I started to feel like Kate was the only girl not in dance, so I figured I better break down and do it. I thought it would be cute to put pictures of her before he first dance class next to ones of me at about her same age.

She loved her first class and especially loved that her teacher gave her a paper ice cream cone for the work she did in class. She adds another scoop every time she goes to her dance class and practices all the skills. she also loved being able to watch herself dance in the mirror. A couple of times she got so caught up in watching herself in the mirror that she wasn't following the teacher or keeping up with the class anymore. I really like the teacher and the fact that they do a little pre-ballet, Pre-jazz, and pre-gymnastics. Kate is very excited to be in dance class and I am glad I didn't wait much longer. Hopefully she will be as excited when she starts piano. I think she has some real natural ability-all from her dad and none from me of course.

Park City Birthday Excursion

Well, we had a nice time in Park City. The hotel was not so great especially since the bed was two twin beds with a queen matress over the top. You could feel springs and seams and it felt like sleeping on a stack of couch cushions which were constantly shifting and slanting different directions. I was also a little dissapointed that Eli had to work much more than he originally told me, so I spent most of the day shopping by myself. It was very nice to have a break from kids and to feel like a couple again. I did miss them eventhough I was only apart from them just a few hours longer than 24 hours. The food was good, but over-priced. I really appreciate Candi watching the kids for us and allowing us the opportunity to have some much needed couple time. Next time I hope to be able to have the money to stay at a luxury hotel and maybe next time we'll eat at Ruths Chris steak house instead of going to the celebrity owned steakhouse on Main Street. All in All I think Eli had a really good birthday.

The Blessings of the Priesthood

A Sealer at the Ogden Temple at the Sealing of the Carter Family quoted President Uchtdorf as saying, "The priesthood is how God blesses his children." Here are a few family members who have been blessed by the priesthood over the weekend.

The highest priesthood blessing we can receive on this earth is to be sealed to our spouses and children for time and all eternity. On August 1st my aunt Shannon was sealed to her husband Mike and four of their five children. It was their 28th wedding anniversary which I thought was a very special way to celebrate that occasion. I am so glad they allowed me to be there to witness such a touching, special, spiritual event. What a beautiful eternal family! I love you guys!

They were honored before hand with a luncheon at the Ogden Golf and Country Club. These are my grandma's two sisters who were the hostesses for the luncheon. It was nice for me to feel close again to my grandmother by being in the presence of her two sisters. They are all very similar.
Left to Right: Ryan (the youngest), Amanda and Brett (Brett is the oldest), Austin (#3), Shawnee (#4 & only girl), and Macy (grand-daughter), Chase was across the table with his wife Breanne (you can see pictures of their recent wedding on my June 30 Blog entry).

This is my aunt and uncle's 1st grand-daughter and my cousin Brett's first daughter Macy. She is such a cutie!
On August 2nd the priesthood blessings were extended to my nephew Isaac Briscoe who was Baptised and confirmed by his father Jed. Thanks to the priesthood we are able to follow the example of Jesus and be baptised. We barely made it to Spanish Fork between the terrible car accident and getting slightly lost, but we made it just in time for the batism luckily. What a handsome boy! Thanks for involving us in this special event. It was fun to spend time with everyone. We had a late breakfast together, the cousins got to play, then we had lunch and stopped at Cabela's.
I thought this was a cute picture of Kate and Beck who were just too worn out and slept a good part of the time at Cabela's. I am so grateful that I can spend eternity with these two precious babies! God does love his children! Thanks to our Heavenly Father we have a plan to follow, the priesthood and most importantly His Son as our Savior.

I am so grateful for all these family members and their examples and for the blessings of the gospel in my life.