Baby Blessing

Two weeks ago we went to my brother Brock's house in Wyoming. He was blessing his new baby girl who was born in January. This was the first time we met her. She is such a doll and I loved every minute I got to hold her! 

We got there late Friday night and Saturday we went to an indoor pool they have and swam for a couple of hours. I didn't get any pictures of that though.

That night we celebrated Porter's 6th birthday, which was the day before. He is so smart and so fun. I was playing Qwirkle with him while we were there, and he kept adding up his score before I could. He isn't allowed to answer math questions unless no one else in his Kindergarten class doesn't know the answer. Haha.

His mom accidentally bought trick candles. I was hilarious.

This beautiful girl in her blessing dress. 

We had such a fun weekend and it was nice that we were only 5 hours away. We really love living closer to family! 

I am getting so old!

I feel like we are constantly eating out and eating cake for a month between Valentine's Day and Chris' birthday, but it's a fun month. For Valentine's Day we went out to eat a place in Myton (town even tinier than Roosevelt) called the Hideout Steak House. It's literally in the middle of nowhere but it's really nice and really yummy! We ordered "steak on a stone," which meant our stead was brought to us raw on a hot stone, and we cooked it ourselves. This cook was right after they brought it to us. I cooked it pretty well before I ate it. It was fun and tasted good too. 

Valentine Flowers

On actual Valentine's Day I did a craft fair in Vernal. My little hobby is actually growing into a business and it seems like I always have orders now. I am thankful for everyone who has given me a chance to make them something. I will also be at a boutique in Burley in April. So excited!

The weekend of my birthday we ate at the Hideout Steakhouse again because we still had money left on our card. Saturday we ended up going to Salt Lake to try to get our computer fixed at the Apple store (which failed), but that's ok. We did a little shopping and ate at one of our favorite places there, The Melty Way. Sunday was my birthday and Chris made me a cake with flames that were different colors. It was a low key day but but ver nice.

Last Sunday was Chris' birthday. We went and had dinner at some friends' house and played games. I brought some candles but we ended using some that they had. They didn't have a 2, so Chris turned 31 for the second time. :) We didn't frost and eat the cake till later, so that's why it's still in the pan.

I am so thankful for Chris and all he does for me! Here's to many more birthday's and Valentine's Days together!

Here Comes the Bride

Last weekend we went to Salt Lake for my niece Kelsi's wedding. What's that you say? I have a niece who is married? Why yes I do, and it makes me feel really old! It was a fun weekend and everything turned out really nice. 

We stayed at my brother's house in Springville, so I got lots of hugs from this cute guy. :)

My nephews waiting for the happy couple to come out of the temple.

The bride's little sister. She loved her "princess dress" and crown (which you will see in other pics further down).

Here they are coming out of the temple. She was (is) so beautiful!

Having fun at the reception in Utah Friday night.

Mother of the bride, my sister. :)

The sign I made for them. Kelsi loves this quote from the movie Sweet Home Alabama.

Saturday we drove to Twin Falls for the reception there. They had dancing near the end and Halli and Luke (cousins) danced with each other. SO CUTE! Note Halli's crown. :)

Love this girl to death! She was born on April Fool's Day when I was 7 years old and I remember I didn't believe my dad when he said my sister was having her baby. I was determined not to be fooled. :) I also remember riding in the car with my Aunt Bev and Aunt Shirley and they asked my how it felt to be an aunt, only my 7 year old mind thought they meant "ant,", like the bug. I was so confused but realized it after a minute and I really was excited! She has been my friend ever since and I am so happy for you Kelsi!

Christmas and New Year's

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Again, it was a short trip. We could only be gone the weekend. We got there late Christmas Eve and stayed at my mom's. We were the only ones there Christmas morning, so it was kind of quiet. We slept in. Chris had to drive to Twin that morning and deliver something to his sister so it was late by the time we opened presents. Probably the only year I was showered and dressed when we opened presents. Well I take that back. Two years ago when I had to work at the hospital on Christmas morning we didn't open presents till I got back. Anyway, here is picture of our cute tree. I loved my wrapping paper this year. I love putting a bow on every present. So fun!

We woke up to this on Christmas morning. I don't think I've ever seen the windows frosted like that in real life. It was definitely a white Christmas. Luckily most of it waited until we got there. It only snowed the last half an hour or so of our drive. Remember last year how it snowed the whole way from Spokane? That was awful!

 Some pics of opening presents. I made this sign for Chris' office. A WSU Cougar. :) He loved it.

My new coat that I ordered myself. I had been waiting since October to wear it!

My momma and I! Love her!

I think it was Friday night when we had our gift exchange with my siblings. The first time that only 3 of us were there though. :( But it was still lots of fun. We had a little talent show this year where some of the kids showed off some of their musical talents. And I played the piano at my mom's request. It was my New Year's resolution to practice more this year but I have not been doing it. Going to try harder!

We stayed in Roosevelt for New Year's and went to some friends' house. We played games and ate all night. This is the treat we brought. Yummy!

Chris' little sister who lives in Pennsylvania didn't come home until New Year's Day, so we weren't there the whole time she was home. We still wanted to see her though, so we went to Salt Lake the day before she flew and met her, Chris' mom and stepdad. It was such a fun day and I'm so glad we went. We went out to eat at Olive Garden and then walked around Temple Square. We also went to the City Creek mall for a little while. We still had some time, so we decided to go the Planetarium. We watched a movie about how space was formed and then played with all the cool displays at the museum. It was very cool.

Here is our Christmas card this year. We were lame and just sent out an electronic one, but at least we sent one. I thought it was cute. :)

For my records, here is a copy of what we sent with it:

We wanted to send a note and say that we are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family members in our lives. We love you all and hope that you had a great year. 

         As some of you know, Jill had surgery last year on December 5, 2013, and was still recovering at the beginning of the year. So this year started out a little rough for us, with an emergency room visit on January 3, but quickly improved. She was on TPN (total parenteral nutrition) until the end of March, but during this time she was able to gain weight and start to feel much better. We hope she will continue to do well and that there aren't any more surgeries in the near future.

         Chris graduated with his Masters Degree in Health Policy and Administration from Washington State University in May and in June was offered a job in Roosevelt, UT as a DME (Durable Medical Equipment) Supervisor. It was a big change for us, moving from Spokane to a town of about 6,000 people, but we have really grown to like it. Chris enjoys his job and says that the days fly by, and he always looks forward to the coming week. Jill is not currently working as a dietitian, but has stayed busy with her Etsy shop and Facebook page, PolkaDotPansies, making and selling crafts, and babysitting in the afternoons. We both also stay busy with our church callings. Chris is the Teacher's Quorum advisor and Jill is the Beehives advisor. We both really like working with the youth, and it has helped us get to know more people. 

         As another year closes, we are thankful for all of our many blessings and feel fortunate for all we have. With Jill's health improving we hope that the coming year will allow us to grow our family-and hope that the coming year will bring you joy and happiness as well. We are thankful for the birth of our Savior and this time of year to celebrate it. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

There is always, Always, ALWAYS something to be thankful for!

We had a fun Thanksgiving this year. Our trip was short, but we were glad we were able to go home for a couple days. We spent Thanksgiving at Chris' mom's this year. The food was amazing, of course (Carol and Brett are great cooks!) and we played some fun games.

We were sad Courtney wasn't there, here are the kids Skyping with her.

Damian and Evi playing together.

More Skyping

We spent our nights at my mom's. Halli loves Chris and loves to have books read to her. They are good buddies.

Friday we ate dinner at Chris' dad's and the food was yummy again. For some reason I didn't get any pictures. Saturday morning I saw my dad for awhile and then we spent the rest of the day at my mom's and went home Sunday. We got to see 2 of our new nieces for the first time too, which was so fun! But for some reason I got a pic of one of them. Can't wait till we can have our own someday. :)

A few days later Chris and I went bowling. I think this was the first time we had ever been together (besides bowling on the Wii, which we did on our second date). Turns out Chris is not as good in real life as he is on the Wii. I beat home both times. 

I love this time of year when we get to reflect on our blessings. I am so thankful for Chris' job and all his hard work to provide for us. I am so thankful I have been feeling well for several months now and that we have been able to (finally!) start trying to have a baby. I am so thankful for the gospel and all that comes with it. And I am thankful that this time of year reminds us that there is always, always, ALWAYS something to be thankful for!

Jack o' Lanterns and Dinosaurs

Well we had a swell Halloween weekend. Chris and I carved pumpkins as usual. Mine are the two on the outside and Chris did the one in the middle. We also found a corn maze near Roosevelt and got lost there. It's not a great picture because of the light, but can't you just tell how much fun we were having? Our ward Halloween party was on Halloween, so I dressed myself up like a cute little witch (Chris put no effort into dressing up) and I went earlier and helped with the carnival games for the kids. My calling is the Beehive advisor and we were in charge of a booth. Chris' mom and stepdad decided to come visit us that weekend since Chris' mom didn't have school on Halloween. They got into town while the partying was still going on and came to the church and ate dinner with us. Then we went home and passed out candy to Trick or Treaters while we visited with them. This year we actually live in a place where we get Trick or Treaters, we got 0 in Spokane. Our apartment was not exactly in the greatest place and our front door was in an alley, so it was fun to give out some candy this year!

 The next day we drove to Vernal and went to a couple different dinosaur museums. I didn't know this until we moved here, but Utah is apparently the hub of dinosaur bones. Like mega hub. Like mega mega hub...well you get the picture. Apparently a lot of the dinosaur bone displays in major museums across the country came from good ol' Utah. It was a rather fascinating day. The first place we went to had lots of replicas of skeletons and a few real ones, and lots of info about what this area looked like in the days of the dinosaurs. We saw other fossils too, of plants and turtles, and such. Outside there were a bunch of statues of dinosaurs that were pretty cool to see too. And the wooly mammoth was huge! I had no idea they were that big. Way bigger than an elephant. It was like 14 feet tall.

Next we drove around out in the middle of nowhere until we found this other place, a national monument. It is a big building that is basically covering the side of a mountain where a bunch of dinosaur bones have been found, but instead of excavating them, they decided to leave them there and preserve them for all to see. It was pretty crazy. What they think happened, is that there were a bunch of dinosaurs that died at the same time, and then somehow the remains were swept up in a river and brought downstream, until they got stuck in mud and created a "logjam" of sorts. The water was strong enough to tear apart tissue so there were tails and legs and heads floating around. Gross right?! The types of dinosaurs in the logjam are prevalent in the area and already have some complete skeletons, so that's why they left them there like that.

You could also walk around outside and there were some bones sticking out there. It was really cool to see them just sitting in the rock, it makes you wonder what else is buried there. I read that there were also some dinosaur tracks to see but we didn't get that far. It started to rain. :(

The next day Carol and Brett went to Sacrament meeting with us and left to drive back to Twin. I didn't get any pics of them for some reason, but we loved having them here and showing them our house and all the dinosaurs.