Baptism photo shoot...

Our little girl doesn't seem so little anymore!

We went to the Mesa Temple for a little photo shoot in her baptism dress and she was beautiful in every way and we had a good time together. (Despite her two rambunxious brothers who joined us as well - we did our best to ignore them while we were shooting)

I've taken enough photos of her that she's starting to tell me how she's going to pose - she's more than comfortable in front of the camera!

Love this girl more than she knows!

2014 Young Women's Theme; Free printables...

This year's theme for the Young Women/Men for our church is "Come unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness." As per tradition, I've designed up a binder cover as well as logos in a couple different colors. Feel free to use them as you please. Find previous years here and here. Download All Come Unto Christ Materials as a ZIP file
Download Come Unto Christ Binder
Download Come Unto Christ 5x7
Download Come Unto Christ Logo on Background
Download Come Unto Christ Aqua Logo
Download Come Unto Christ Magenta Logo
Download Come Unto Christ Yellow Logo
Download Come Unto Christ Gray Logo

Youth Conference 2012...

I just returned from a long weekend of late nights with the youth from our church at Youth Conference while Steve held down the fort at home. I generally feel like I'm a young and energetic leader. But after two nights of staying up until 2am I realized just how old I've become! The thought of having to run to the store at 1am to grab snacks is well beyond my years, but I did it and pulled through. Oh to be young again...

We spent three days at Eastern Arizona College with our focus being the Gila Valley temple (pronounced Hee-luh): We joined hundreds of youth in service, learning, enrichment and fun.

We started at the most depressing cemetery I had ever been too. We cleared weeds, cleaned up debris and beautified it the best we could. Have you ever seen a cemetery without grass or even a bush or a tree? I always envisioned my dead body resting underneath a shady tree, not under some river rock. And it's not as though this is an old cemetery - one headstone I saw had someone buried in 1997. I suppose that's what you get when you're buried in the desert! The heavens were obviously smiling down on us as we cleaned headstones and we were left with a beautiful sunset! We participated in dance-offs, skits, firesides, classes, temple work and dancing. Lots of dancing. We danced on stage. We danced in the courtyard. We danced in the car. We danced the weekend away. We sang a lot too.

I couldn't get enough of these girls and I truly had the best time with all of them - on my combined nearly 10 hours of sleep for the weekend! During our last night dance extravaganza in the courtyard, I was surrounded by youth; some of which I knew, others I did not. I had the most nostalgic feelings engulf my body. It took me back to my life not too many years ago and my mind was racing with great memories. To be young is fun and life is full of possibilites and opportunities.

All these teenagers are on the brink of major life decisions that will change their lives forever. Yet in those moments of dancing you could see they didn't have a care in the world. The world was their playground and they were loving it, the music was loud and their bodies wouldn't stop moving. I wanted to shout all of my thoughts to them. I wanted to shout to them to remember these moments. Life is not always this carefree and it tends to beat you down. But life is good and there is simple joy in all of it. Remember this happiness and energy, carry this memory in your pocket.

But instead I smiled. I smiled as I admired each one of them and I danced right alongside them. It was a simple joy and a great reminder for me. It brings me so much joy working with these young adults, I have so much to learn and a weekend is just not long enough!

One very important thing that I learned: Miami, AZ has the most delicious cheap mexican food. Don't be confused that they named their restaurant the "Burgerhouse", they're burros are to die for!

Rexburg...

After a week with my parents, Steve flew in and we drove over to Rexburg to meet up with his parents and two siblings.

What a treat it was to spend a weekend with such a small number of family members. Steve has such a large family that when we get together, it's really hard to feel as though you have time with everyone individually.  With just two families to focus on, I felt that we really got to spend quality time and enjoyed some great conversations.

Sidenote: On our six hour drive I noticed that Hunter's legs were getting a little too much sun. I searched the car as I kept one hand on the wheel trying to find a blanket or shirt or something we could hang in the window to block the sun. That's when my genius idea hit...we got all sorts of fun looks when we drove past people. But the diapers served their purpose, they absorbed all the suns rays!!


Hunter had never met these cousins so it was so fun to see them all interact. Hallie was in heaven and all of her cousins were so sweet and kind to her and she loved every minute of playing with them.

We went and roasted some dogs and mallows, fed some ducks and played a little soccer.







We also hit the Whoopee Days (yes, that is really what it is called) Rodeo. This was only the second rodeo I've attended and it was a great time. The kids were enthralled but from a few of Hallie's comments I could tell she was a little concerned. "Is that hurting it?" "Why are they wrapping rope around his legs?" "Why is it trying to hurt him?" I realized, a rodeo is a hard concept to explain to a four year old. But when the questions get hard, just give them a snow cone. They usually lose interest in the animal being chased around the arena!



My sister attends school in Rexburg and was able to join us for our outing!
Hunter loves his cousins. Especially when they are wearing hats. Hunter could not get enough of this hat. He would take the hat, laugh, put it on his own head, laugh, throw the hat, laugh. I'm sure glad that hat went everywhere we did because it provided endless amounts of entertainment!


Our nephew entered the arena for the pig chase and ended up getting some money! It was the funniest thing to watch.

I think my favorite event was the bull riding. I would cringe every time I saw that bull getting ready as they opened the gate but then I couldn't take my eyes off the rider as I saw his body contort to all sorts of shapes I didn't think was physically possible. Then as they fell off I always held my breath in fear that he would get stepped on or trampled. Neither of the two happened. Thank heavens. I don't know how I would've explained that to Hallie. Even two snow cones probably wouldn't have stopped the questioning!

Also in Rexburg we hit up a fabulous pool at a friend of Steve's parents. It. Was. Heaven. And Beautiful. I could've stayed there all day. Hunter was exhausted and nearly fell asleep in the water. Hallie was a little fish and couldn't get enough. She clearly takes after her father.




We really enjoyed our time in Rexburg. We were able to see our old apartments, our old condo, go to the temple (which is so nice to be just a block...a block away!), toured the campus (which is so different just years after we left), see friends, see old teachers/professors, enjoy the beautiful weather and we loved our time with family.

Here is our traditional picture of the kids with their grandparents. It didn't go over too well with Hunter. We said we would take another later when he was in a better mood. But I kept this picture "just in case" we didn't get one later. It's a good thing I kept it. It's the only one we got. So this will forever mark our 2010 trip!


Next up: Fourth of July in Rexburg

Ohio...

We spent our Memorial Day weekend with our friends, the Heatons, in Cleveland. Stacey and I were roommates in college and we've been able to stay in touch over the years. Justin is starting his fourth year in dental school, so we knew we had to get there sooner than later. They live just minutes from several church history sites in Hiram and Kirtland. So not only did we get to spend some quality time with friends, they served as awesome tour guides!!



Both Steve and I were dreading the drive. Live so far from family, we usually fly wherever we go. We've taken very few road trips since we've had kids, and they've been under the five hour mark. So the thought of a 7-8 hour drive made me nervous. But thanks to a dual DVD system, more food than you would ever comfortably eat in any setting and a leapster, we made it and it wasn't so bad.

Here are a few of our highlights:
Steve and Justin golfing early Saturday morning
John Johnson home in Hiram - In which Stacey and Justin watched our kids out on the lawn so we could enjoy the tour.


Great food (Stacey is an excellent cook!)
Endless nights of a card game they taught us called ripple. Quite addicting.
The festival we happened upon in Chagrin Falls

Kids feeding the ducks.

Convincing Hunter the carousel was a good idea, and then prying his hands off to get him off!


Sulfur Springs - a beautiful area with a stream that the kids were able to play in.


Kirtland Temple - Steve and I switched off tours so we could fully enjoy our experience.



Kirtland visitors area - including the Newel K Whitney store, John Johnson Inn, Whitney home and other little points of interest. (Once again a big kudos to Stacey and Justin for taking our children so we could really enjoy the experience!)


Eating a crockpot pork roast in Kirtland that Stacey secretly stashed earlier at her ward building and let cook all afternoon while they were at church. Sneaky, sneaky!

Haircuts for the boys. Stacey was the one who originally taught me to cut Steve's hair 7 years ago, she then taught me some great tips for cutting Hunter's hair.
Staying up way too late for how early our kids get out of bed!!

We had so much fun. The church history sites were great. It's not quite as large as Nauvoo, but still definitely worth the drive. The Kirtland temple was really cool. You get to walk through both the first and second level on a guided tour. Its hard to believe it is 150+ years old, yet still holds such a special spirit. I really enjoy the historical aspect of the church, and even more interested because Steve and I will be teaching Doctrine and Covenants in the fall to the seminary students.

Stacey and Justin were such great hosts and we loved our time with them. It's amazing how you can make friends with someone, not see them for a couple years, get back together, and it's as if nothing has changed. We reminisced about the good old days when we lived in Rexburg together and the crazy things we did. The second night we were there, we were up pretty late talking and our husbands had fallen asleep on the floor. I decided it was late, I was tired and it was time for bed, to which Stacey said, "We can't go to bed yet, we don't have that much time to talk." We stayed up for another hour and a half. We're lucky we both married people that also get along so well. Hopefully one day we'll live a little closer!