A Home of Our Own

The American Dream.... Cordell and I have been praying for our very own home for years. We feel so blessed that this dream, this goal, is now a reality. We know that our Heavenly Father has a plan for us and we have learned so many things as we waited patiently for our dream to come true.

We are having co much fun planning future projects and completing some of the projects we have always wanted to do! I am so excited to start a garden this spring! I don't have to live through farmville anymore LOL.

I still LOVE doing housework and feel so blessed when I get to sweep OUR floor, vacumn OUR carpet, and putting things away where they go...I love that our things have a home too LOL.

We truly feel so blessed and thank our Heavenly Father for being there for us throughout everything and giving us this amazing blessing. Our kids are thrilled and love having a place to call their own too. We are excited to use our home to create so many wonderful memories!

This is NOT goodbye, this is just... an extended leave of absence!

My dear friends! Truly each one is an angel!

"SIGH".... Where to start? I have been blessed to have the best and most amazing group of friends! For the past 5 years we have played, laughed, cried, celebrated, comforted, supported, and enjoyed LOTS of food together! I was DEVASTATED to leave them! Each one of them has a special place in my heart. I have needed their friendship, love and support! I miss them more than words could EVER express! I look forward to Christmas when I can see them all again. They say you don't know what you have until it's gone...well what made moving so hard was that I KNEW what I had! I know they are still my girls, but that doesn't stop the pain and the heartache from leaving my lil angels!

Thank you ladies! I love you and miss you!

A Fond Farewell....

We LOVED our Ward in Springville! We made so many great friends. My bestie Heather threw us a party, the decor, food, and guests were all amazing! It made the fact that we were leaving a little less sad. We got to see so many of our dear friends and got to just sit back and enjoy the party. It took my mind off of it, for a little while LOL! A great night! We will certainly be back to visit, what has become our HOME Ward!

Best Buddies

Jackson LOVES his friends!

Jackson has AMAZING friends! He misses them so much. I miss them all so much. They played so nicely with each other and genuinely care about each other! They went to school together, played soccer together, swimming lessons, late nights, and lot's of play dates! 

Jackson is so excited to have some pen pals. He is already counting down the days until Christmas, when he will be in Utah for a visit and be able to play with his friends!

"I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"

Jackson's Invite...Thanks Heather!

"I like to look for rainbows"

Best Friends

Mommas AND best friends

So my baby boy decided to follow in his Savior's footsteps and get baptized! What a wonderful day. He was baptized with his best friend, which meant that my best friend and I got to plan the program. Jackson asked me to give the talk on Baptism...luckily I got through it! He chose his Aunt Noni to lead, much to her dismay, and asked his Grammy to say the closing prayer. He had both Grandpa's as witnesses and his hero, and daddy baptized and confirmed him. I think ONE of my favorite parts was when all the kids came up and sang "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." What a wonderful thing to hear their testimonies through song and see the excitement on Jackson and Harrison's faces!

It was a wonderful day for Jackson and for all the friends and family that were able to make it. Even GG and great Grandpa came! I am so proud of my "little man." He is growing up so fast. How wonderful it was to see his excitement and his pure JOY to know that he was the newest member of the church.

I know that this is only the beginning, and I have many great firsts ahead of me, but this first was so special and I was given a fresh perspective and the experience truly strengthened my own testimony!

We love you Jackson and we are so proud of you! Keep it up!! CTR and use that amazing Gift you were given today! August 4th 10 am...a day to remember, never forget!

O Holy Night

Temple Square is always a great place to visit, especially at Christmastime. It was a little cold and the kids can get tired and don't always listen when you tell them to stop running away from you, but it was still a great night! We got to go with a group of friends and eat first and then enjoy the lights together. It is a great reminder of what the season is all about and of course the amazing blessing of knowing my family will be together forever!

Twas the Night Before Christmas....

Ahhhh Christmas Eve. It is always such a fun night! We were sad we didn't get to go sledding this year, due to the lack of snow and abundance of rain and mud. We did enjoy all the time we got to spend with Megs, Jene and Eric. We worked on our traditional puzzle, helped the kids make gingerbread men, had a wonderful dinner...thnks mom, opened our traditional presents...PJ's, sang carols and heard Grandpa read the Bible story of the Nativity! A Great night! The kids were a little sad that we were going to make them sleep in their own beds, but putting out the cookies, milk and carrots (for the reindeer) made them happy! Playing with cousins all day helped and they went right to sleep!! It was a wonderful night and made me wonder how many more of these we will have. Jackson is getting so big and becoming such a big boy...it is only a matter of time before some of that magic will dim and Christmas will be a little different. So we are enjoying these years as much as we can! Merry Christmas!

Trimming the Tree

Ahhh the joys of putting up the Christmas tree! The untangling of lights...only to find that they don't work, the trips to the store to replace the broken balls throught the process, and the joy of finding your hard work in deseray with the movement of all decorations so nothing is where it "should" be...EVERY morning. It is hard work, but we actually do enjoy this lol! We put on the Grinch while we did it this year and sometimes it can seem a fitting movie. Every year I work on my own need to have the tree look perfect. I did a good job this year and let the kids do most of the decorating...with me of course adjusting it as needed at night :). They each got a turn putting the star up so everyone was happy! It was a fun FHE and we are glad to relax and enjoy that Christmastime feeling. I do love sitting in the glow of the tree and drinking some hot chocolate and just doing nothing...until I realize a ball or doll is out of place and then I HAVE to fix it lol! Merry Christmas!

The Little Shepherd....

Our Ward Christmas party was on Sat the 11th. Jackson was very excited to be a shepherd! He helped me get his outfit together and did a great job. Of course we had the usual "mom stresses." You know when you are trying to get their attention......"stop picking your nose", "sing", and "no funny faces." But it all went really well. He was a great shepherd and it was so cute to see him trying to act. He had to look in the basket at the baby Jesus and it was so cute! After capturing that on video the only pic with the baby Jesus I could get was the big smile one! That's my boy! It was a great breakfast and what's even better, I didn't have to plan it!!

It Begins.......

So my children found a Walmart toy ad! Oh dear!! The pointing things out soon turned into circling and add a J or a C for the specific things they each wanted! Of course Jackson "helped" Cameron circle everything "he" would want lol! This is one of the only things I have a hard time explaining..... I told Jackson that Santa might not be able to give him everything...his reply, " Oh I know mom, he has the elves make them." Why worry about the money side of the argument when they just make everything. So we had to go back to basics.....you don't get everything you want. And the things you do get you need to be nice and earn them. Cam of course wanted everything his bro wanted and then some. my oh my!

A Suprise Fo Mommy

All I can say is....um thanks. Not so in love with the amount of stuff I had to help put away, but it was cute! Cam was the one who used it's full potential! We snuggled down and watched Mickey's Christmas Carol. All in all a warm and snuggly-fun memory! Thnks guys!

Cameron Starts School....

Cameron had tubes put in his ears almost a year ago and during that time we found out that he had 36% hearing loss in each ear. Well we have come a long way!! His hearing has now been restored, thanks to the tubes, and he is doing much better. The only thing is that his speech and the patterns he learned while he couldn't hear has become an issue. SO....... he qualifies for a speech program here in Springville called TLC. his first day was Nov. 4th and he really likes it. We go every Thursday at 12:45 and hear a story, do an activity and have one on one time with the speech therepist. He gets to take activities home and we work on it here. He loves to show Jackson what he makes at HIS school.

He is only 3 so of course he gets really frustrated and can act up, which frustrates mommy of course! But he is getting bette every time! He can say his name now and will even stop talking to think about the sounds. We have only done C --kaa sound and the F sound, but we can already see a difference! Keep it up Camers.....it will come!!

Trick or Treat!

What a wonderful night! We started by a visit to my parents and then drove back to Springville to find Hail, wind, and puddles of water eveywhere! I of course was not happy. I stress over Halloween and I wanted my kids to have fun trick or treating! Luckily it "cleared" up and turned out to be cold, wet. and fun! Jackson did not want the night to end and Cameron really got into it this year! He ran all night trying to keep up with big brother. I loved that at EVERY door cameron said...trick or treat...I'm Buzz! If someone called him by Cameron he quickly corrected them...."not Cameron...Buzz." Jackson had lots of fun showing Cam the ropes and they both got TONS of candy! So all in all a great night!!

A Totally "Tube"ular Day....

Well, here we are again, this time with Cameron. We had been noticing his speech not really progressing so I took him to Utah Valley for a free hearing test. The tech was not the greatest. He simply looked at me and asked if my husband and I had chronic ear infections growing up and I said yes and also replied that his brother had had two sets of tubes in. He just said "well crappy genetics." Can you believe it? Then without explaining anything just said that Cameron had failed both ears and that he had 36% hearing loss in both. Then he just looked at me. I had to lead all the the questions and get all the answers, all while trying not to cry. So we saw my ENT Dr Ence and he said that it would all go normal after tubes because of his age and all the fluid that is in them right now. He made me feel alot better and even called the Hospital to complain about the tech. We arrived at the hospital, early in the morning! It was hard to kep him happy while we waited in the room and he really did not want to change into the gown! They finally got him some meds and the nurse carried him away! I ALWAYS hate this part! I waited and was so happy it didn't take to long. I heard his weak cry and rushed into the hallway to collect my baby. He was so out of it, but everything went great and he enjoyed some apple juice and a popsicle! He also insisted that he "walk" out all by himself lol. After wobbling around he finally agreed to mommy carrying him! We got home and snuggled the day away...this is of course my favorite part!! Love you cams!

I Love You...

We had a great Vday this year. We made lots of sugar cookies, we got a visit from cupid, and Cordell and I were in charge of our ward dance! We even had MArtinellis and symphony covered strawberries! YUMMY!! We had lots of fun as a family and as a couple! I LOVE Valentines!