7 weird things about me

Okay so like everyone else is doing this so I might as well.
1. One weird thing about me is I am a terrible speller, but I usually get all the letters of the word, just not the right order, I do the same with numbers.

2. I have this habit lately of making sound effects when I talk, one of my favorites is shika boom.

3. Also probabaly 50% of the time I get that test wrong when you have to type the letters you see in the box, before your comment will be posted. Perhaps it is time I have my eyes tested.

4. I have a nervous habit and either pick at my face or my head, you can usually tell how nervous or stressed I am by how broken out my face is.

5. I am the worlds biggest procrastinater, and thus I have been told that I work best under stress, I don't know if it is because I have had to do to many things twice (when the kids were young if I did something too early it would either get destroyed or eaten) or whether I just plain always over estimate how much I can do in the time allowed, needless to say I am found staying up late anytime I have something important to do and it is usually the night before or the day of when I finally finish.

6. I love to get to know a lot of the newer songs, but I am famous for learning the words wrong and will go months singing them that way before I am corrected.

7. I have been told by my kids that I say random things, I think Cynthia said that was a Nelson thing, but I am not sure, maybe it is just a human thing

Our Anniversary Getaway!

Our weekend away started off a bit slow because our meeting at work lasted a bit long, so we didn't get out of town until about 4pm, We started out by driving down to Salt Lake to Trolley Square (yes people do still go there, although it is under major re-model)to the Rodizio Grill, it is a very nice Brazilian resturant. Afterwards we decided to go to Temple Square since neither of us had been in awhile and I had never been by the new Conference Center either. We really enjoyed ourselves there, filled out a couple or referals and took pictures, as it was starting to get dark we decided it was time to head down south to South Jordan where we had reservations at a motel for the night. After checking in we decided to go out and take some night pictures of the Jordan River Temple and then we went to Cold Stone for ice cream, by the time the night was over it was late, so we slept in till about 8:30, got up, checked out and went down to visit my parents and David and Kurt, we had a nice time there for a couple of hours, but at about 2:00pm started for home as we were going to go through the mountains again to get some pictures of the fall colors, the contrast in color in just the two weeks it had been since being up at the mountains last was quite amazing as you will be able to tell in the pictures. We had a wonderful time, got home at about 7pm just enough time for us to have dinner before I went off to work. We also had our Primary Progarm this weekend and as I am a teacher in the Primary I had a part, I had made a deal with my kids that if they memorized their parts I would also, needless to say I was a bit nervous because my part was part of the Proclamation on the Family and it was not exactly a small part to memorize, it was nice though and as it turned out I was the only adult who memorized their part. There are some pictures of the fall colors up here in Utah in a slideshow to the side!

My upcoming weekend!

So here I sit at work pulling an 18 hour shift so that I can have tomorrow night off! I am so excited because Darin and I are going to escape this town and get away for a day and a half for our second anniversary!!!! First off I want to say that this double shift is awesome because since my work has DirectTV I can watch along with the rest of my family acrossed the nation "The Office" what a way to get me through a long shift and since the guys I take care of generallly go into their own rooms to do their own thing at night I am free to watch whatever I like! I want to stop and take a moment in gratitude for these past two years, I never knew how happy I could be having a best friend, who enjoys spending time with me, having the same goals and basically could be named a saint for putting up with me! We have been through some very difficult times with all that is going on in our families lives, but on the other hand have been blessed with the MOST awesome children and famliy members who have been a great support to us. I also want to thank Ed and JoAnn for being so awesome and going out of their way to include us in the kids lives, having the opposite to compare it to, has made us really aware of how blessed we are and the kids are to have them. Well this blog is really rambling so I geuss I had better just end it, we'll update you on our weekend as we go up into the mountains again and take pictures of the fall changing of the cclors.

Sometimes miracles are not meant to be

For those of you whose thoughts and prayers have been with us through our mediation today, we would like to thank you, although we knew it would take a miracle to change the heart of Tracie the girls mother, we also knew that the Lord's timing is not ours and this was not to be, unfortuneately for us we will have to go through a period of time not seeing the girls as we are not willing to lower our standards and do things against our conscience just to see them. We therefore will have to put our trust in the Lord and pray for a day when prehaps hearts will be changed or circumstances will be different, until then we LOVE YOU!!!!! MACIE and CARLEE and our prayers are always with you!

The first signs of Autumn!

As it has been an unusually hot summer here in Utah, I am happy to announce some of the first signs of the oncoming Autumn. First sign we had was the weekend of the 13th when we went up into the canyon on an adventure, while there he started to see the very first signs of the weather changing here in Utah. Second this last week we have been noticing how much faster it is starting to get dark at night and with it the coolness of the night. Third can anyone deny the signs in the stores not to mention the front yards around the neighborhood? Yes the signs of Halloween seem to show up earlier and earlier every year, don't get me wrong, I love Halloween but it is a bit lonely with our kids and grandkids far away! We can't forget Thanksgiving especiallly since we have soooo very much to be thankful for this past year! Yes the Fall is a great time of year!

An eventful Saturday!

Yesterday Darin and I decided that we really needed to get to the Temple with all that is going on in our lives. There has been a lot to get done around our house that we really have fallen behind on doing, particularly the fruit from the fruit trees (due to the winter and late frost) we didn't really have all the much compared to last year, but there were peaches and pears, just not much of anything else, luckily some of the neighbors have offered to use the fruit which we are very grateful for! Back to our experience, anyways we decided to clean up somewhat around the house and by the time we got off to the Temple it was about 6pm, we had a lovely time doing inititories then on our way home drove to Sam's Club to get our grocery shopping done, by the time we got home and had dinner it was close to when I had to leave for work about 9pm. Out of no where we heard all these sirens that sounded close to our house, so I stepped outside and saw all these emergency viechles and police cars at our neighbors house, I had to go to work so I left Darin to go find out what happened, as it turned out our neighbor while getting fimilair with his gun (it is hunting season here in Utah) accidentally shot his leg while trying to load it. What made this experience so special was that Darin was still in his Sunday clothes and was prepared to help go with this neighbor to the hospital and help give him a blessing. The neighbor is alright and this can be chalked up to one of those learning experiences, luckily for him the police were willing to confiscate the gun until he can learn proper gun safety.

My new hobby!

Well first off this week since I have had so much empty time while trying to stay awake while I work my graveyard shifts, I have been trying to think of some productive things to do with my time. I have been watching a lot of movies, which really do nothing for me except turn my head to mush, I tried reading but my poor eyesight does not do well with the artificial light at night and they get really tired. So anyways I was looking at my daughter Kerstin's blog and saw all the wonderful scrapbook pages she had done on her computer. I am not a big fan of regular scrapbooking because of the time it takes to prepare then clean up, plus the cost can really get expensive, but the electronic scrapbooking looked like something I could really get into. Here is a sample of what I have done so far! I can see how this can become addicting. Unfortuneately until I can get all my pictures on to my laptop I am limited to the pictures I have on here for my experimenting and getting the program down, but it has been fun!

My Awesome Blog

I just wanted to thank my daughter Kerstin for helping me construct this blog site, she reallly did a great job, she spent far more time and energy then I expected her too, but Darin and I are thrilled at the result. She has been told she should go into business and I really think she should she really has a talent! Thanks again Awesome daughter #1

Mediation

Just a note for friends and family, we have to go to mediation this next week to try and come to some sort of agreement about visitation with Macie and Carlee. We hope and pray that we can express our concerns in such a way that we might come to an understanding and stop all the stress that has been put on the girls, we hope we can do this without having to make some hard decisions. We could use all your prayers on our behalf.

In the recent weeks we have had the opportunity to experience some mile stones in some of our childrens lives, posted are some pictures and the the experience from our perspective.

Stake Conference

Last night and today we had Stake Conference, we always look forward to Stake Conference, because it is always like a little mini General Conference. We were praying for the message to be for us as we continue to face some trails and tribulations in our lives and are always open for guidance. As it turns out the meeting last night was on familys, more specifically marriage and how it strengthens the family. There were many suggestions and counsel given that was directed to some of the choices that we need to make in our family to bring us more in alaign with where the Lord wants us to be, mostly dealing with finances. They talked about communication and keeping it open, so that we can be equally yoked. Today we were taught about being prepared to share the gospel through our example and the promptings of the spirit. Both of these topics have been on our minds as we have had loved ones and friends whom we desire to partake of the fruits of the gospel. We are grateful to be blessed with the gospel in our lives.

Our weekend adventure

Yesterday, the 13th of September, we decided to take our Jeep out and give our 4 wheel drive a test. we went up into the canyon above Farmington and traveled around and came out close to the Temple in Bountiful. We spent about 5 hours taking pictures and hiking a bit, it was beautiful as you can see by the pictures, we are looking forward to doing it again soon, perhaps when one of the kids come to see us!

Cynthia and Joe settling into their apartment

On that same trip that we took Matt to school we were able to help Cynthia and Joe get into their new apartment. We figured we had most of the day to help as long as we headed home by 6pm (I had to be to work at 10pm), we figured we had plenty of time, cuz we didn't really think there was that much to do, but it took awhile to get all the stuff from storage, then we needed to travel into Idaho Falls to go shopping at Target where they had a gift card, well I got us a bit lost on our trip into Idaho Falls, but not to badly, we found Target shopped there, then we were all hungery so we went to this yummy Pita place for lunch then to Albertson's food shopping, but the time we were done and back to their place it was 4:30, we still had to unload and there were still a couple of errands to run, like pick up Joe's bike and a run to the store to get a couple things that we forgot at the sto6:re, when we finally left it was 6:10, we arrived home in Kaysville at 9:15, just in time for me to drop Darin off and head to work. We really had a nice time and had fun spending some time with Cynthia and Joe. While on that trip we got some wonderful pictures of the two Temples there

Matt off to College

On Labor Day we were blessed to have Matt travel up from Vegas on his way to Rexburg to stay with us for a couple of days. We had had a bad storm that morning and when we traveled down to Lehi to pick him up, we decided it would be better to bring all his belongs with us rather then leave them in the truck he rode up in for a week. Apparently the truck he rode in was quite small and he was cramped on the ride up, he said that even though we barely fit all his belonging in the car and he had to hold Cynthia's and Joe's Kitchen Aid mixer that it was still more comfortable then the ride up from Vegas. We enjoyed having him stay with us for the week, he was left to entertain himself most of the time due to our work schedule, but we enjoyed playing Rumicube with him every night and he won every game but one. It was also fun to go out shopping with him to get the last of the things he needed for his apartment at school. By the time we finished getting everything he needed for school, we were not sure how we were going to fit us and all his stuff into either of our cars for the trip up on Friday the 5th, but since we were seriously thinking about getting rid of both of our cars and trading them in for one newer more reliable car, we decided to do it before the trip, so on Thursday afternoon we went looking for a car, we found a 2007 Jeep Compass with low miles for a great price, it is a small 4x4 SUV and so we had plenty of room for all of Matt's stuff! During his stay at our place he stayed awake all night while we were at work and so as you can see in the picture, found himself sleeping much of the morning, even on his trip up to school. Matt was so excited to finally be to school and to see his old missionary companions, it was nice to see how happy and excited he was to be there! We are so proud of you Matt!

Brent and Shayla

We could not forget the fun time spent with Brent, Shayla and little Brighton on this same trip to Las Vegas. I was blessed to stay with them most of the time visiting in Vegas and their home was truly a comfort. I had so much fun watching Brighton with Brent and Shayla, what a special relationship they all have with each other. It will be fun next month to have another addition to their little family and what change that will bring.

Kerstin and the Grandkids

We were also blessed at the sametime as Cynthia's wedding to have Kerstin and her three beautiful children come out west to visit from Indiana. Landon and Torilynn have both grown up so much since we saw them a year ago, and to hold Ellalyn for the first time and see her sweet and indiviual personality from this young age was a special treat. As you can see in these pictures a grandparent could not have more beautiful grandchildren.

Cynthia's Wedding

In the begining of August we were blessed with experiencing the marriage of our daughter Cynthia to Joseph Gebhardt in the Las Vegas Temple. What an incredible blessing to have a child enter the Temple worthily and make sacred covenants between spouse and their Heavenly Father. From the perspective of a parent it is humbling and comforting to see them start their eternal relationship on the right foot as best friends equally yoked having put good habits in place at the start. We love you both and are so proud of you!

Well I have finally given in to the blogging idea. Darin my husband has been after me for the last two years to keep a journal, but I have fought it, part because I don't really care to read my handwriting and figure neither would you, but also I think I have been a bit scared to put some of my most personal thoughts down on paper. Now that I think about it though, how is anyone suppose to know who I am or how I feel if I am not willing to do this.....so with that said my goal is to trying keep this blog up at least weekly (we don't have internet access so I have to do it at work on the weekend), here goes I hope you enjoy!