Weekend Activities

Connie, Carolyn, and Sue having birthday lunch for my mother.

Grandma, Mother, and Me at Longhorn Steak House for Mom's birthday.

Wendy made our new little rental 'Joey Style' with lots of cute curtains.  This is showing a before and after.  I LOVE the birds and HATED the lace that was up.

Bryan turned 14.  The young nephews love having a 'big boy' around.

Jeremy - I don't know who took this picture but it's too good not to share.

Jake and I sold the Roy Townhouse.  Until we buy our permanent {hopefully} home next year, we are renting a duplex near Abbi's school.  We lost a bedroom, two bathrooms, a family room, and a lot of space.  But, we are all SO happy.  I'm not sure how to describe why because I'm not really sure.  I still have anxiety and doubts that like to stir my soul but this place just feels so good.  The neighborhood is so great and it's just felt kind of fun to move in here.  I've always been into adventures and this feels like one.  Although it's a half-step towards our goal, the progress feels good.  I don't have all the right words to explain how this all feels and I wish I understood it a little better myself but for now, we're happy and we're enjoying it.  And, we're enjoying the treats our neighbor brought over this afternoon.  We found a good street to park our little family for now.

St. George Weekend

Dad teaching Noah how to check tire pressure.

Kayli, Jace, and Noah

Noah loved jumping in like a wild man.

We had a great little trip though the St. George Temple Visitors' Center.

In front of the St. George Temple after learning about how it was built.

Jace, Marlie, Noah, and Abbi.

Noah 3 1/2 years old

Marlie 9 years old

Abbi 8 years old

They walked 1.3 miles on the river trail.

Kayli, Ethan, and Jace

spiritual moments with the kids

Every morning, Abbi and I have been reading from the Book of Mormon.  We read for just a few minutes after breakfast while the car warms up for us to go to school.  Alternating verses, we each read aloud and sometimes pause to talk about what is happening.  Once in a while, when I tell her what's going on in our story, she interrupts and tells me.  Abbi's reading has improved a lot this school year and I am so proud of her while we read the words that she can do on her own.  Each morning, she gets out her brand new scriptures {from her baptism in December} and turns right to where we left off.  While we were in St. George, she still remembered and wanted to read and even read on her own a little bit.  I love this time with Abbi.  I have lots of good memories of reading scriptures at my parents' breakfast table and I hope Abbi will, too.

While we were in St. George, we visited the St. George Temple and the Visitors' Center.  Abbi and Noah loved that there were missionaries there.  They spent a lot of time in the display about the life of Jesus Christ.  Abbi and Marlie loved the diorama of Jerusalem.  Noah asked me to hold him and we walked around the edge of the room and talked about all of the pictures of Jesus.  He worried about the picture of the Savior hanging on the cross but it was such a special experience to talk about the Savior's love for every person.  Instead of telling him how Christ did that for everyone {because that's probably hard for his mind to understand} I talked about how Christ did it for Noah, for me, for Abbi, for Dad, etc., because He loves us SO much.  Noah's favorite painting was Jesus with the children after He was resurrected.  For his birthday, Noah wants clothes and a hat like the little boy standing next to Jesus.  This was a great few minutes with Noah because his little attention span loved it and he was so interested.

To think, I could have been at work or we could have skipped the temple visit or that I wouldn't have these great kids makes me all the more grateful for them and for this season of my life.

Family Pictures at our Temple Sealing

This was the best day ever!

Thanks to Nate Fleming for the photography!

we like 2013

Jake thinks this may be our year.  2013 has already brought us some great blessings and most of the year is still on its way!  We're still celebrating and so happy we were able to be sealed in the temple.  The kids still talk about "getting married in the temple" every day.  It feels so good to know that our wait is over.  I love thinking about that whole day and the great feelings {the love and support} we got from the temple workers, our family, and our friends in the temple.  

We've been blessed because of Jake's hard work.  I'm so grateful for the Spirit.  Because of the things that happened we were able to make a choice that has turned out to be a blessing for us.  Jake works long hours to support us.  Last night, he worked through the night to be able to attend Abbi's Hero Report Open House this morning.  He went to the store on his way home and had a special breakfast for Abbi before school.  He's pretty much the greatest.

Hero Report Open House - Susan B. Anthony

Abbi went to her first Activity Days with the primary last week.  They took a tour at the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City.  It turns out, I'm a nut-job mom because I could hardly send her.  I got so worried about how far away she was going, if the drive would be safe, if she would be okay, etc.  I made a little card for her pocket with her name, our names, our phone numbers, and stuff because I didn't want there to be an accident and no one know who she was.  I kept a copy of the card at home with a note about what she was wearing.  My sisters laughed and laughed and how crazy I am.  Of course, Abbi came home safely and had an really great time.  She paid such close attention and was able to tell me a lot about what the Church does to help those in need.

Noah keeps reminding us what a big boy he is.  He makes me so happy every day.  He sings songs from the radio, he combs his hair with lots of water and makes it stick straight up, he meows for hours at a time, and dances like a rock star.  I took him to the doctor a few weeks ago and he told everybody that his dad told him to be brave.  He never got upset or nervous at all.  It was more painful for me than him when he got his finger poked.  And, he thought the "big camera" {x-ray} was really cool.  He talked the technician's ear off.  When he laid on the table he put his arms up under his head and acted like he was relaxing on the couch.  He even got to push the buttons on the floor to put the bed up and down.

The kids make me so happy everyday.  I know my hormones are a little out of whack but thinking about Abbi and Noah makes me cry all the time.  They are the sweetest, funniest, and best kids in the world.  I am so blessed to have my happy little family.

Our house sold last week!  Hopefully, {keep your fingers crossed} the sale goes through without any trouble.  We've all been working hard to pack and prepare to live in an apartment for the next year.  Jake and the kids have never lived in an apartment.  This will be a fun adventure.  I'm sending everything to storage except toys, games, and puzzles.  I think we're just going to focus on fun this year.  There will be plenty of projects and work to do when we build {?} or buy next year.

I'm sorry for the mushiness of this post but they were things I just didn't want to forget and want them in our blog book at the end of the year.  It's sort of like looking through a journal/scrapbook and it's fun to remember the good things we've experienced.