Memory Lane

I came across these pictures the other day.  Wow, time has gone by so fast!! Just wanted to share them with family and friends...

Love Letters

Today I came across a scrapbook that I had made at least 10 years ago.  In it were some love letters that Ross and I had written to one another.  One of them being the very first one he wrote me.  It was 4 pages long with details of how we met and up to the day he wrote it.  3 weeks had gone by since the first time we had met.  I cried while reading it.  IT is honestly the most beautiful, heartfelt letter any wife or soon to be fiance could ever ask for!  He was so vivid about his feelings for me.  About how he loved how strong in the Gospel I was (am)... He said I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and that I was just as beautiful on the inside.  He said that he wanted to give me the love that I need and should have had growing up. 

He honestly won my heart over again.  I fell in love with him all over again today.  We both said that when we get married, it was not 50/50 but 100% from both parties.  That ALL windows and doors are locked.  Either this works out or we make it work.  We both made a covenant with The Lord and one another that we would make this marriage work, no matter what.  I can tell you that the first year of our marriage really tested our commitment to one another and Heavenly Father.  If it weren't for our covenants we made, and our faith in the Gospel and the Lord, we would have been like most couples and we wouldn't be together today.  How thankful I am that we are both humble enough to admit our mistakes, ask for forgiveness and love one another unconditionally.  I know that there is no better husband out there for me than my dear Ross.  Nobody could and would be willing to put up with me and my issues like Ross does.  I owe him everything.  I desire to be a better wife and mother each day because of him and my Savior.  I pray that I can continue to win his heart every day of our lives.  I am grateful that we are a complete family.  No greater calling than that of a spouse and parent.  How blessed I am, we are to have one another and our testimonies!  Thank you, Ross, for never giving up on me!!!

Snow Fun Part 3

As the saying goes, A picture is worth a 1000 words and I honestly don't think that I could say anything about these pictures that would do them justice! I will let them speak for themselves!







I love being able to catch these moments on camera when they least expect it!!

Solo...

This past week has been a character building week. Ross left last Thursday early afternoon with his parents to help them with the construction of their new home in Montpelier, Id and also to help calve. I am finally doing a bit better, but really struggled last weak physically which in turn made it more difficult on me emotionally having my sweet husband away until tomorrow night when he finally returns!

Bonuses have been worth the challenge tho... my daughter and I are closer than ever, I get to spend one on one time with them. I Am the most blessed Mother in the whole world! I have felt their love for me more this past week and I cherish the time I have with them! They jump in and help without being asked, we had FHE with Daddy over the speaker phone last night, prayers nightly with him via the phone, We have Scriptures nightly, Rae has planned her birthday party all on her own for this Friday. I honestly do not know what I did to deserve such an incredible, self less, full of charity, service, blessed, most loving and loveable, kind, giving family as I have right now!!!

All and all, the dogs haven't been too bad....although our front yard was filled with goats the other night! And yes, that did get my goat, for the dogs went absolutely NUTS!!! But the neighbor was very receptive and kind about us letting her know that her goats were out and in our yard.

I had a beautiful and fun 2 hour talk yesterday with one of my sweet sister in laws.. ( i just don't like referring to them as my in laws... they are my family). It was well needed and I appreciated it more than she will ever know!

My goal is to attend all of Sacrament Meeting this coming Sunday. It has been since September that I was able to attend all of my meetings... so I am looking forward to listening to the messages for as long as I can handle sitting.

Some days are much better than others. I take each moment by moment and appreciate the times that I feel as good as I do.. I am grateful for the pain scale to go down from a 15 or 20 to a 7 or 8.. I count my blessings when I am able to stand for 20 min to do dishes!:) I have no idea how much longer it will be, but I know it is for a reason and I don't complain, just looking forward to being much healthier and less pain. I count my blessings for I know that it could be so much worse!

I am so grateful for my calling as a Wife and a Mother, there is no other calling that is as noble, challenging and rewarding in my opinion!! I just pray that I am better at it than the day prior.

I love each and every one of my family, extended family and friends with all my heart. I am so thankful for your support, prayers, love, service and for putting up with me! If I don't call, it is not because I don't wish to, or not even really because too busy, but I never like to call when I am really struggling...it is my own quirkiness.... Know that you are in my thoughts and prayers daily!!

Disappearing Nine Patch Bag...1st stage

I have wanted to make a disappearing 9 patch bag for some time now and I finally had the opportunity to make one!  I am trading this for some Michael Buble cds! It has been fun making it and right now I just have the outside done...however I experienced something new while making the  pockets for the inside...I discovered that by placing your finger underneath the sewing needle while it is in fast motion it can go almost thru your nail and finger!  Luckily I was using a denim needle or it would have broken it off in my finger and nail.  ( my sister in law did just that while in high school... All I can say is ouch!  And mine hurt like it did, I cant begin to imagine how she felt!  I guess you could say that we really do like to put our blood,sweat, and tears into our work!  But this time I didn't cry ( which I honestly rarely do when it comes to pain, now touching moments or sad movies and whatnot, I am a lost cause!)  Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the outside....

Snow fun part 2

As promised, here are some more fun in the snow pictures. I am so thankful that I am able to sit long enough to be able to post, even if sometimes I need to break it up in different days, it gets done nonetheless! I have so many blessings to be thankful for in my life!

Apparently the sticking out the tongue seems to make you go faster....

Superman Jerry getting ready for launch...

And we have take off! Up, Up and Away!

Getting ready to tag team sidekick Brayden...

Going faster than the speed of... a dog!  Look out Samson, I am on the case... never fear, Jerry is here, ready to fight dog crime...lol

As you can see, he almost went into the little ditch at the bottom of the hill... then you could have said that he "ditched us"...lol Anyway, I am so thankful that we are able to take advantage of the snow while it lasted.

All these things shall be for thy good...

We have all heard before that it isn't what happens to us, it is how we handle those trials. Or the famous saying, attitude is everything. All of the above is true. It isn't when the times are good that our true character is shown, it is in the midst of the challenge that reveals who we really are. A lump of coal would remain just that if someone, whom knowing exactly what that coal can turn into, and then carefully taking the necessary measures and time to put intense heat on it to reveal what it's true identity really is. Sand would be just plain ol sand if the heat wasn't turned on to it to create beautiful glass. So why then is it hard sometimes to remember that when the pressure is on us,meaning that we are undergoing a transformation process when life's challenges, experiences and trials are presented to us,that this is all but for our good? It isn't always easy to remember that that is how we become the sons and daughters of God that He desires and sees us being, and that it doesn't mean that we have necessarily done anything wrong or that we deserve those hardships, but it slowly begins to mold us in to who we are today and whom we desire to be.

I honestly have never asked why me. I don't know why, maybe I am just weird that way. (No comment please..lol). I am constantly told that I am way too young to be going thru what I am and have in my life... although I am not so sure that any age is a good age or bad age so to speak, to go thru hard things and as many as I have been asked to do... I know what they are saying though and it is taken in the right context. I am truly amazed at how much your eyes( especially mine...) tell all. I try so hard to put on a good face and smile and to have as best of an attitude during challenging times, but it never fails that someone will say that they can tell by just looking at my eyes that I am not my normal energetic, enthusiastic self and I look forward to returning to that more than you know! It has been almost 4 months since I have been able to attend Church, except for Christmas Day, and I miss it more than anything!! I miss the interactions with others, which if you are a social bug it is very hard to not be around people, don't get me wrong, I enjoy time alone but thrive off of being able to be around people. I miss the strength of each others testimonies and faith. This Sunday I plan on being there just long enough to take the Sacrament while kicking my feet up on the couch and then heading home. That will do wonders for me I am confident. I know this too shall pass. I just want it to pass a little bit quicker than it is. I have a year under my belt and up to 7 more, but will keep praying and believing that the time will quickly come when I can live more normally and be able to enjoy even the simple things of life more than I do now. I am grateful for all the service my family offers me. It is humbling to ask for help when needed, or prayers when needed. I know that I will be better and stronger because of this. I am thankful for my challenges, but am ready to move on and to feel good and less pain once again. I am thankful for my Savior, for the Atonement and always knowing that I can rely on Him to lift me up on the days that I can barely lift myself up ( spiritually,emotionally and sometimes physically). I can always count on Him to be there for me, to listen and to be my best friend. I love Him and my Heavenly Father with all my heart. I know that they have a plan for me. I thank them for sending my family to me. I couldn't have asked for a better, more loving,selfless, dedicated family than the one I have. They have the patience of Job with me. They have been asked to go thru a lot on my behalf and never once have they complained about the service they render. I love them with my whole heart. I know that they believe that one day I will be able to do the things with them that I desire to do, but they are patient with me in the mean time. It isn't easy being a husband or children to me, but they love me unconditionally inspite of things and my heart is full of gratitude for them. I love my extended family with all my heart. They too have had to put up with a lot and still love me unconditionally. Same goes for my friends, who sometimes know me better than I know myself! I love them dearly and are thankful for them. I am thankful for this blog, it allows me to have a journal and to be able to share it with those whom I care about so very much. Thank you for not judging me. For accepting me, faults and all. Thank you for taking the time to read and support our family and our adventures, smiles, hurts and just our plain silliness at times! Know that you are loved and thought of all the time.

Our family addiction...

Ok, so maybe it isn't quite an addiction, but it is something that we have come to really enjoy as a family. For Christmas we got the family some Wii games since that is something that we enjoy doing together. Also, it is something that allows me to participate in as a family without injuring myself! Well, we ended up taking back a couple of games ( Game Stop is amazing!) and exchanging them for different ones. One of them happened to be the game Wipeout just like the TV show. (Side note... we never even seen the show until after we played the game):).

I can honestly say that we have never had so much fun playing a Wii game as a family as we have had with this one! One time the kids and I were playing and since it wasn't Jerry's turn he decided to go in the kitchen to grab a bite to eat... now, this only has happened the one time, but it was halarious!... we were at the last stages of the game and Rae's character had a slight glitch, for some reason her arms were waving all over the place as she was running, but they were facing backwards! It was soo funny looking and so you know, not expected that I started to laugh, then I was laughing so hard I couldn't even get "Jerry" out of my mouth to get him in here to watch.... this went on for quite some time and I seriously have never laughed so hard in my life! I was crying, my stomach was hurting and yes, I even snorted a couple of times... The kids started laughing really hard because, 1.. the player was just down right funny looking and 2, they enjoyed seeing me laugh so hard. I know, it was one of those things where you had to be there to get the full effect, but, it was fun to experience that as a family.

So now we have a new tradition, on Thursday Nights at 7 we sit down for an hour and laugh at the people on the show and enjoy each others company. ( No, we aren't laughing at them, believe it or not, we are actually laughing with them!) I tell you what though, they get the world's most cookiest people on that show! This is the only show we watch on tv.. the rest is netflix or movies, or playing the Wii or other fun games that happen to be non-electronically involved.

I am thankful that we can enjoy one another's company. We are definitely not a perfect family, but then again who would want that... sounds too boring to me... not to say we aren't striving for perfection in this life, but that we recognize each others weaknesses and try to focus on our strengths while praying for one another to be just a little bit better than the day before.

So, I or we recommend this game very highly and know that you will have fun wiping out and throwing things at your opponents!

Snow Fun part 1

Brace yourselves... not that everyone may read this, but yes I am actually posting....

Because there are quite a few pictures I would like to post, I decided it would be better to break the posts up a bit.

Last wednesday was really the first day that we got snow...and we even got enough worth playing in!  Fortunately, my family was able to enjoy it long enough to satisfy their love of snow and mom being able to have some fun pictures taken, before it melted that night.

Also, I honestly cannot believe how much Brayden LOVES the snow!!!  More than any child I know,  and it does my heart good to see him enjoy it so much with great intensity...

What a fun big brother!  Mush Jerry, Mush! LOL...

 This is Brayden with our neighbor's little guy.. Dalton... could say they are snowbuddies!

Ok watch out, you  just might get hit by a professional!  Warning!  Cold front coming your way... with a chance of flying snowballs!

 I just love the grin on his face!  A picture IS worth a 1000 words!