Ryan and Christy

Our little guy!!!!

2011-03-22T10:39:00.005-06:00

We are so thrilled for another addition to our family! It feels like we've been waiting for this time to finally be here. I know other's have gone through more difficult trials to get their children here, and I feel like the little trial Ryan and I went through was to give us a better understanding of what others have had to go through. Although I don't feel like I took Kate's pregnancy for granted, I just had no idea how easy it was for us to bring her here. Everything went SO SMOOTHLY! Which is great, and I am so grateful I will have those memories to hold onto dearly.

This pregnancy has been a little bit different. We wanted to start trying in January of 2010 but decided it was important to get better insurance, and get Aflac. Due to the new insurance we had to wait until May to start trying. In my head that was an eternity away, but I figured that since it was so easy to get pregnant with Kate, that a few months wouldn't kill us. May came, and I felt like our time FINALLY came! I was so excited to get pregnant. Any girl can imagine the disappointment I went through when June came and that pregnancy test came back negative. July, nothing. I for sure thought August would be my month! We went to Newport with Ryan's family over my birthday. I knew that if I hadn't started by the 7Th, I was pregnant. I wanted to give myself the best birthday present ever so I waited until the 10Th to take the test.... And it was the best birthday ever!!!! The test came back positive! Our time had come. I was ecstatic. It was so hard to not shout it to the world, especially to Ryan's family since we were with them all week. We went to Disneyland and Jess was pregnant so she couldn't go on any of the wild rides. I was trying to figure out how on earth I was going to keep it a secret from the family when I wasn't going on any of those rides either. Jess caught on what was going on really fast! It was our little secret (and Ryan's too). We came home from Newport and everything was going great. At 6 1/2 weeks I finally called Dr. Smith's office and scheduled an appointment for our 8 week check up. The very next day everything changed. I started spotting but didn't want to overreact. I called up Dr. Smith's nurse and she said she wanted me to go in and let them draw my blood. They wanted to make sure I was pregnant. This next week DRAGGED for me. They called me back Wednesday saying I was pregnant but my levels were low so they wanted me to go back and draw blood again. Then on Thursday they wanted me to go in and get the Rhogam shot. The whole time I knew what was going, but I didn't want to admit it. A small part of me was hoping that everything was going to be OK, and I was still pregnant. On Friday when I got the phone call from the nurse letting me know that indeed it was a miscarriage, I was devastated. Although it was only 2 1/2 weeks, I was already planning on having this little one join our family in April.

I spent the time I needed to grieve over that little one. The next few months were still frustrating for me. I wanted to get pregnant so bad, and I wanted it right then!

I remember on Thanksgiving I was feeling sick. One side of me was excited thinking, "Yay, this is it!" While the other side of me was thinking, "Oh no, another month goes by and I'm still not pregnant." That Saturday I was too anxious so I took a pregnancy test (3 days early) and once again, it came back negative. I just kept waiting for it to start. Wednesday still nothing so I took another pregnancy test, and it came back POSITIVE!!! I couldn't believe it! And I couldn't believe that I was sick before I even knew I was pregnant. That day I called the doctors office and they said they would see me as early and as often as I wanted to be seen. That was comforting for me. I decided that no matter how often I go in, it wont change anything. We knew we wanted to tell immediate family on Christmas, but I told Ryan that we couldn't tell them until we had seen Dr. Smith. We went in at 7 weeks and were able to see the heartbeat. That was all I needed! We told the family on Christmas!

I've had a few friends that recently miscarried at 12 weeks, so I was still worried that I could have another one. The whole week before my 12 week appointment I kept telling Ryan how worried I was that we were going to go to the appointment and they wouldn't be able to find a heartbeat (even though we had already seen the heartbeat twice). The night before I had a nightmare about the same thing. So we go in, and the doctor is using the Doppler instead of doing an ultrasound. My heart is pounding and I'm about to cry when 20 seconds goes by and he still cant find the heartbeat. Finally, he finds it and I can calm down. Ryan was even worried there for a minute. So we've done it! We've made it past the 12 week mark! I can finally relax and not worry about every tiny thing that is going on!

Wrong. I'm 15 weeks now and I'm feeling so much better and loving it! On a Sunday evening I start bleeding just a tiny bit, but its enough to throw me over the edge. I'm balling and can't even breathe. I couldn't believe that this was happening to me. I spoke to a nurse on call, and she assured me that everything is OK since I haven't had any more bleeding. I went in the next day to hear the heartbeat and get everything checked out, and everything was OK! I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I was. And what helped was right after this incident I was able to feel baby move around, and have felt him several times a day since then.

I will be 20 weeks tomorrow, and nothing scary has happened since then. I am so glad that I have made it this far! I will never EVER take a single pregnancy for granted. I will cherish every moment, good and bad. As rough as it has been, I am so grateful for everything that has happened. I would like to believe it has made me a stronger person, and I can sympathize with those that have gone through a rough time as well.

Kate is so excited to be a big sister! From day 1 she said she was getting a baby brother, so we weren't too surprised when we found out she was right! We are so thrilled to have a little boy join our family.

Here is baby boy's profile.

Here is his left leg in 3D.

His left leg again. He was moving around so much! It was fun

for Ryan to see how much he moves around.

His face in 3D. The placenta is covering up half of it :(
(The doc says that I could feel him so early on because

the placenta is in the front.)

It's a little blurry, but here is his foot.

He has no shame! He wasn't afraid to show us that

he is a boy!

His cute little body. At 18 weeks he weighed 9 ounces.

I realize now that I get 2 amazing birthdays in a row! My birthday in 2010 gave me hope that Kate would get a brother or sister. Then for my birthday in 2011, our little miracle gets to come join our family! Who knows, maybe he will even come ON his due date, which is my birthday :)

It amazes me how much I already love him!

2010 goal accomplished............kindof

2011-03-22T09:40:00.012-06:00

Sounds silly, I know. One of my goals going into 2010 (that's right... 2010, not 2011) was to blog about each one of my close family members on their birthday and let them know how much I adore them and appreciate having them in my life. Well, it's obvious to see I didn't accomplish that goal. However, I still wanted to justify and at least acknowledge the ones that I missed.

In July it was Colter's, Brewer's, Bryce's, and Dad's birthday.

Colter had a very special birthday this month because

he turned 8! He was baptized and confirmed

in September and we are very proud of him!

August is by FAR the busiest month of the year when it comes to

birthdays. This month has always been my favorite month

of the year, and to be honest I'm not sure why.

It starts with Summer, then Anika, Carter, Me(on the 9Th for

those that can't remember ;)), Jon, Kate and Andy

(on the same day! Kate has always had a special bond with her

Uncle Andy from day 1), and I can never forget the one who has

done so much for me throughout my life, my Mother.

In September it's Jon's and my wonderful Husbands birthday.

Both of these guys are so good to Kate, and she loves them dearly (as do I)!

For October we have lovely Taylor, cute Jackson, awesome Uncle Greg, and both Grandmas on Ryan's side of the family; Grandma Moffitt and Grandma Bennett. November starts off with my wonderful Mother in law's birthday, then Parker (another great uncle!), and last but certainly not the least we have Lexi's birthday. She is one lucky girl because every other year she gets to celebrate her big day at the Happiest Place on Earth!
Now we have December, Jason and Boston! What a great way to end the year!
To everyone, thank you so much for being a part of my life. You probably don't realize it but each and every one of you have made a special impact on my life. You have made me a better person, and for that I am grateful for you. I hope you all had great birthdays, and that the year to follow is a spectacular one. I love you all and HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Taggart Beck

2010-10-26T15:47:00.004-06:00

My adorable nephew was born June 30, 2010. There is actually a funny story behind this! About 7 pm I got a phone call from my brother asking me if I would come to the house for an hour or two so they could go to the hospital to get Lindsi checked. (Her due date wasn't until July 20th?) Once they got there, she was dilated far enough so they kept her! Her doctor (the best doctor out there :)) came in at about 11:50pm and asked Parker and Lindsi if they wanted a June or July baby. They said July. So they were just hanging out waiting for the 10 minutes to pass. Dr. Smith asked what time it was, and it was 11:58. Only 2 more minutes. . . One minute later, Dr. Smith looked down, and little Tagg's head was popping out. Apparently he didn't want a July Birthday!

Mr. Tagg at the hospital

Tagg showing off his gorgeous eyes down at Yuba lake.
Tagg's birth announcement.

I feel so honored to have 13 nieces and nephews!

Tagg is such a wonderful addition to this family!

I love you Tagg!

p.s. Lindsi, I stole these cute pictures from your blog.

Hope you don't mind. Your pictures are so much better than the ones I have.

Craig Edwin

2010-10-26T14:48:00.005-06:00

This year my Dad's birthday fell on Father's day. It's always bitter sweet when that happens. I'm trying really hard to be better about not having big days (like his birthday, Father's Day, or the day he passed away) be a sad day. My sister is a great example to me, and on days like that, she makes it a big celebration about remembering his life, and all the good things he did while he was here, and remembering all the good memories we have of him. I'm trying to follow her example!

Ryan, Kate, and I went to visit Dad on his birthday and Father's Day.

Kate's first visit to Grandpa's grave.

She was so happy to be there!
I remember this day like it was yesterday! I felt so LUCKY to have my Dad baptize me. He had been really sick, and didn't know if he would be able to do it. He had lost his voice completely. I knew he wanted to be the one to baptize me, and he did everything in his power to make that happen! Since his voice was gone, my wonderful Grandpa confirmed me. I feel honored to have the 2 most important men in my life at the time perform those ordinances for me.

I don't remember what the occasion was, but my brother copied this picture,

framed it, and gave to all his sisters. It's such a classy picture! Thanks Parker!

Dad with all of his brothers. From Left to right:

Barry, Kent, Lane, Nyle, Dad.

My Dad getting into Uncle Barry's plane.

Dad, I know your soarin' high looking over all of us. I know you want nothing but the best for us. I'm trying hard to make you proud!

Happy late Birthday Dad!

I love you more than words can say.

Lindsi Ann

2010-10-26T13:53:00.005-06:00

Now that it's taken me 4, almost 5 months to get back on here. . . I thought I would finally post some pictures of my wonderful sister in law. I had a lot of fun going back 5 years and looking at all my pictures. Lindsi, there are so many pictures of us that has brought back wonderful memories! Here are just a few. (I probably should have done more recent ones, but oh well!)

Right before I quit Jet Blue, we went on a sister's trip to New York,

and had the time of our life! In this picture we had just gotten done seeing Wicked.
I couldn't resist adding this picture! One year in Jackson, we got the Old
Fashion pictures taken, and I think we had too much fun messing around.

Lindsi and I right after we had Brewer and Kate.

The beautiful Smith family.

(Minus their newest addition, Tagg.)

I'm sorry its taken so long adding the pictures, but it's better late than never, Right?

I hope you had a great birthday!

Lindsi Ann

2010-06-03T21:36:00.002-06:00

Happy Happy birthday Lindsi! I hope you had a fabulous day, as you deserve it. Thanks for being such a wonderful sister. You have taught me so much! I love how crafty you are. Every time we get together you have something new to teach me. And just when I start to figure out that project, you already have something new to show me. Thank you for sharing your creativeness and talents with me! You are a wonderful mother, have the best kids, and a husband who would do anything for you. My computer is currently not working, so I don't have access to all my wonderful photo's. . . Sorry Linds! As soon as our computer starts working, Ill post some.

I love you, and Happy Birthday!

Random Fun Pictures

2010-04-12T20:43:00.005-06:00

Kate and Brewer had so much fun together up at East Canyon.

All the girls got along so well.
I got to go see Laurel and David Warr perform in
Fiddler on the Roof. They were amazing!

Kate and Morgan enjoying their Easter baskets.

Kate and Morgan LOVED playing outside at

Aunt Jess & Uncle Greg's cabin.

Kate having a fabulous hair day.

Kate deciding she needs to lay down and take a nap.

Running around naked sure wears her out!

We were oh so lucky to have Morgan for a weekend, and we went to the Aquarium.

(Morgan wanted their bows to match :))

That same weekend they made cookies together.

Morgan did a great job decorating the cookies!

Lauren Ashley

2010-04-07T15:44:00.005-06:00

Sunday was cute Lauren's birthday. I can't believe she is 18 now.

It's crazy to think that she is now graduating from High School,

and off to College.I swear it was just yesterday we were

welcoming her into our family!

Lauren is the best big sister anyone could ask for.

She is so great with her younger siblings,

and a wonderful example to them. One of the many things I love about Lauren is that she isn't

the typical teenager where it's all about her friends.

Whenever Ryan and I go out to Colorado, Lauren always chooses

to come hang out with the fam instead of her friends.

She realizes how important her family is!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

We hope your 18th Birthday fulfilled your expectations,

and then some!

We love you so much!

Jaclyn K

2010-03-27T12:35:00.006-06:00

Happy happy birthday dearest sister. I can't believe you are 20. To be honest i feel like you are older than that. You've had to grow up at an early age. I want to let you know that you are such a great example to me. You've had your fair share of trials in life, and yet you are the strongest, most independent, (and stubborn!) person I know. I am so grateful to have you as my lil sis. I know growing up we were not the greatest sister's to each other, but I feel like since we have gone through all that, it has brought us closer together.

It was fun going on this hike together in Jackson.

You are so good to Kate, even though she does things to make you dry heave :).

You still love her just as much. (You have to admit, that was pretty funny!)
I cannot wait for you and Jon to get married. He is so lucky to have you.

You two are a wonderful couple. It will be an amazing adventure for

you to create memories together as husband and wife.

I enjoyed spending so much time with you doing the

Wasatch Back and Del Sol Relay.

You are so fun to be around, and know how to keep the party going!

Happy Birthday Lil Sis.

I love you so very much!

Jessica Lee

2010-03-21T21:37:00.008-06:00

It was Jessica Moffitt Olsen's birthday today! There are so many great things I could say about her. She is such a fun person to be around. She has a unique and quirky sense of humor that we absolutely adore. It's almost impossible to be around her and not have a fun time. She teaches me that I need to remember not to take life so seriously. But on that same note, she is a very responsible person! She has great balance in her life, and I admire that about her, and wish I could be more like that.

Jessica is a wonderful aunt. Morgan and Kate are SO LUCKY to have

her in their life. (Along with her other nieces on the Olsen side!)

Here we are carving pumpkins.
Jess singin her heart out in Cali!
She really knows how to have a good time.
Jess has THE magic touch with Kate. I swear she is the only person who hasn't had any problems with Kate while watching her. I think the longest Kate has ever cried with Jess is 2 minutes. Plus, there were only a select few people Kate would fall asleep on while they were getting their hair done, and Jess was definitely one of them.
Kate and Aunt Jess.

Jess, we hope you had a fabulous Birthday,

and we are lucky to have you as our Sister.

We love you very much!

Scott Richard

2010-03-14T16:28:00.008-06:00

"The Teen" is no longer a "Teen". I'm sure we all shed a collective tear knowing that Scott is 20 years old. We have so many great memories, and we thought we would share just a few.

It's a family tradition to go to Newport Beach once a year for a week. It is probably Scott's favorite place on Earth. Here is Scott relaxing on the beach with a monocle. Does he look British?!

Another time in California. We had tons of time to kill at the airport,

and I thought it would be fun to put a flower in his hair.

Scott's such a good sport! But in all honesty I don't think pink is his color.Here we are the day Scott left to go to the MTC. Doesn't he look all grown up?!

I think it's awesome that he went to Long Beach California on his mission.

Let's just hope he doesn't fall in love with the California weather, and never comes back.

Scott is such an amazing person! He really is everyones best friend. He can get along with anyone and I'm sure he is doing wonderful things in California.

Happy Birthday Scott! We love you, and are looking forward to making lots of memories with you in the future!

Cailyn Savannah

2010-03-13T14:13:00.004-07:00

Today is our lovely niece's birthday. She turned 14. She is such a joy to be around. Cailyn is a great help. She is always helping out with her siblings. She is so adventurous. She isn't afraid to try anything. If someone dares her to do something, chances are she'll do it!

We were up in Jackson for this picture. It was windy, and the clouds we rolling in. Cailyn and Anika were the only braves ones to enter the FREEZING cold water. But she had a blast!

One year when they came out for Christmas, we had a sleepover, and here is

Cailyn being silly (With her 2 partner's in crime).

Cailyn river rafting with everyone. I tell ya, this woman isn't afraid of anything!

Happy Birthday Cailyn!

We love you so very much and are proud to call you our niece!

The Masonic Lodge

2010-02-15T13:20:00.009-07:00

Friday night my brother, Parker, and his friend Kevin Anderson, put together a benefit Concert where all the money they raised were going to help the people in Haiti. They got TONS of people to help make this happen. Lots of people offered to give away gifts that were raffled off throughout the night. There were family, friends, and friends of the bands here, and more! I was so happy to see how many people came to support this, but on that same note, you can never have too many people there :)

Before the concert even started, Kevin and Parker hit it off by raffling off some items. Ryan was the very first person to win something! He won a 10 Day pass to Momentum. He is so ecstatic about this. He can't wait to start climbing again.

What was so nice about where they held this concert was that it was kid friendly! They had a huge open area where all the kids came together and played and danced the night away.
Here are Lindsi and Justin working hard! They had to manage the raffle tickets,
hand out the prizes, and dealt with the silent auction.

All the prizes that need to be given away. There were over 60! I was so impressed with everyone who came together, and offered items to give away. There was a couple $20 gift cards to Fat Cats and Chuck-a-Rama. There was 2 different FIVE HOUR packages to get massages, a couple $40 gift cards to another restaurant(I can't remember the name). A day pass for 2 people to get into Momentum. Quite a few bead watches, the latest fashion! (Thanks to Kelly who donated those.) Two different packages of Lia Sophia jewelry that a friend of mine donated. ($200 worth!). 2 different karate lesson packages. There were many more items! The last item they gave away was a rafting trip down in Moab. The guy that won that is pretty lucky!

Mom, Kate and I.

The second group claiming their prizes.

The Brian Bingham Band was the first to start. They were amazing!

This was Ryan's favorite group. The first 2 prizes we won! Let me correct myself, Ryan won them. With all the raffle tickets we bought, Ryan's tickets won ALL the prizes. In one hand was his Momentum pass, in the other was a gift basket filled with Katelyn and Co. bows, headbands, and leggings.

Lori and Nathan won a TON of prizes! This was just the beginning for them. They won some headphones, a purse, one gift certificate to Snowbird for 2 ski passes, another gift certificate to Snowbird to spend the night at their hotel, and ANOTHER gift certificate to Snowbird to spend a day in the summer with different activities.

Here is Parker telling everyone about "Healing Hands for Haiti" and "Les Enfants De Sion" and what great organizations they are.

Another band that played. The main guy was Jeremy Tyler. He was awesome! I think my favorite. (Then again, all of them were probably my favorite!)

The other band to play was the Desert Noises. But this also gives you

an idea of how the auditorium was layed out.

The last band for the night. Carlos Cornia. He sang Reggae.

He was the one to get everyone on their feet dancing.

To give you an idea of how many people showed up.

All night Kate kept trying to climb up on stage. With the last group, she just

walked to the front and started dancing in front of the crowd.

Lori and Nathan at the end with the rest of their prizes! More Headphones, an Ipod, a basket full of product, 2 more purses, and I can't remember what else. They deserve all these prizes with all the money they donated!

Some other gifts we (Ryan) won was some Lia Sophia jewelry and a $20

gift card to Chuck-A-Rama.

Thanks so much Parker and Kevin for putting together such a great concert. I know we had so much fun, and we are so glad we can help out the people in Haiti.

You guys should do another concert! I know we will be there in a heart beat if you do.

Kelly Ann

2010-02-13T15:00:00.003-07:00

My sister Kelly had a birthday yesterday. I want to tell her how much I appreciate her. She is such a wonderful person. She is so kind, caring, giving, polite, admirable, and considerate. These are all probably understatements too. She would give up anything she could for someone in need. She is constantly giving. This is one of the things I love about her. She NEVER puts herself first (Even though at times, she probably should put herself first).

She is ALWAYS finding ways she can spend more time with her nieces and nephews.

She will be the one to call us and ask us if she can take our kids.

(That's not the way it's supposed to work, right??)

Kelly is such a wonderful Mom. Breckyn is so so so lucky to have her.
Kelly is also a wonderful wife. She is so good to Bryce!
(Of course, Kelly is lucky to have Bryce and Breckyn in her life too.)

Happy Birthday Kelly!

I love you and hope you had a fantastic birthday.

Morgan Ana

2010-02-13T14:27:00.005-07:00

Morgan turned a big 5 on January 5Th. She is such a joy to have in the family! Morgan is such a great example to Kate. Kate looks up to her so much! Morgan is a wonderful "big sister". I love the way Kate's eyes just light up the second she sees Morgan.

For Morgan's birthday she invited all of her friend's to Bouncin' Off The Walls. It was so much fun!

Here are some of the kids bouncin around.

I would have to say this slide was a hit. . .

Even the adults had a blast on it!

Morgan blowing out her candles. I hope her wish comes true!

Morgan and her Dad.

Happy Birthday Morgan! We just love you so very much, and are so lucky to have you as our niece and cousin.

Olsen Cabin

2010-02-13T13:39:00.006-07:00

Less than a week after we got home from our cabin, we were so very lucky to go up to the Olsen cabin. Greg's parents have only had this cabin for a couple of month's, and they are already so willing to share this wonderful cabin with others. We had such a wonderful time!

Here is the whole Moffitt clan (minus Scott)

These two girls are the best of friends! They had a blast together.
We thought we had a brilliant plan to tie the tube to the back of the snowmobile, and go for a ride. Mark was the first to try it out. Lets just say it looks a lot more fun than it really was. Too much snow in the face, and it's a killer on the neck. We spent some of the time on the snowmobile. It was nice and relaxing for Kate! She would

usually take a cat nap.

And we spent a lot of the time sledding! Here is Jon and Megan. When we went snowmobiling, we wet on this great trail that led to this fabulous view!

Here is Andy, Lindsey, and Morgan.

One night we had a great game of Poker. Here we all are strategizing our next move :)

Andy won the game. Great job Andy! Greg gave him a run for his money though.

Kate being oh so adorable!

Nana and Kate hanging out at the bottom of the massive hill.

The Massive hill I was talking about!

Us girls looking cute.

We would link on to each other and ride down. Here are the boys.

Thank you so much Jess and Greg for allowing this trip to happen.

We really appreciate all that you did this weekend! I know our family had a great time.

A huge thank you to Greg's Parents also for trusting us with your cabin and snowmobiles.

You have a beautiful place.

We're hoping we can do it again someday!

2010, Here we come!

2010-02-07T10:49:00.007-07:00

For New Year's it was our year to have our family cabin. Due to four other families we only get it once every 4 years, so we were pretty excited to be going up there. It's a pretty big ordeal getting everything up to the cabin. We can only get there on snowmobiles, so we have sleds that we pull and put all of our belongings in them. For this trip we only had two snowmobiles, so we had to stagger the times we all came up. Ryan, Kate, and I were first. Parker was kind enough to go up the night before to turn on the heaters. When he came it was a whopping 20 degrees. BRRRRR! So when we got up there I think it had gotten up to 58 degrees. Still BRRRR! Kate and I stayed at the cabin while Ryan went back down to help everyone else out.

Here is Kate all bundled up.

Kate LOVES having her little dance parties. Here is Aunt Jackie dancing with Kate and Brewer. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen thanks to the abundance of food we all brought up.
Here we all are ringin in the New Year! Happy 2010 Ryan "surprised" everyone with his Superman boxers. He thought this was as close as he was going to get to streaking. He was wrong! Of course you can't celebrate without someone streaking. Ryan, Parker, and Bryce did take it down a notch this year! Once they got naked, they only ran around on the deck and decided to not go out snowmobiling naked. For everyones sake, I decided to keep this pg-13, and leave out the naked shots.

Afterwards, us girls dared each other to go run around outside WITH our clothes on, just no shoes or socks. I was in back, and thought I was so funny when they turned the corner and ran into the snow, and I stayed back. What a fun way to celebrate the new year!

The next day we played outside all day. Here is Parker trying to throw snowballs at us. I also thought this was a cool picture.

Grandma and Kate hanging out!

We went sledding a TON! Here I am sledding with the kids.

When us big kids would go sledding, we would go on the main road. We went from our cabin, to about half way down the canyon. It was such a rush! One person would stay back, and come get us with the snowmobile, and this sled attached. We would all pile in and come back to the cabin, to do it all over again!

Kelly and I getting ready to race!

Daddy and Kate enjoying some hot cocoa.

Kelly, Jaclyn, and I being silly. I thought it would be funny to try and get Jaclyn out in the snow. Kelly and I wrestled with her for a little bit. But she's a strong one! We decided to be nice and spare her. . .

So they thought it would be funny to try and get me in the snow! I had to go to the bathroom, so they thought they would be SO sneaky by just grabbing me once I came out.

Little did they know that I could hear them trying to be SO sneaky. I knew they were up to something! So I thought I would be so funny and sneaky by filling a glass up with water and dumping it on them! I got Jaclyn first. She didn't even see it coming! What made it even funnier was that Kelly just sat there laughing and was glad it was Jaclyn, not her that was all wet. In the meantime, I filled up the glass again, and poured it all over Kelly! Who's the sneaky one now?! Ya, they didn't think we were even, so they still attacked me, and I fought as hard as I could. I feel like I fought a good fight.

Bryce decided he would "help" us finish this off once and for all. We all ended up in the snow!

This time we were lucky because we had socks on. It wasn't as bad.

The last day we went for once last snowmobile ride. The view was gorgeous!

I just love this cabin so much. We are so fortunate to have had such a loving Grandfather who built this for us so we could create such wonderful memories.

Kelly also did a great post on this trip, and has tons more pictures, and has shared some more funny stories of what we did at the cabin. If your interested click here.

Our little Angel

2010-01-25T13:33:00.002-07:00

This past Sunday we had Stake Conference. I was pretty nervous, and just banking on the fact that we would be leaving early due to Kate's behavior. I packed TONS of treats, her Church Book, books to read, paper to color on, more treats, and her big sippy cup filled to the brim with milk. We got there a little early so we could somewhat stake out the best spot to sit. We chose a spot near the back but in the middle of the row. To the right of us we had 2 little girls the same age, and to the left were more little kids. We didn't know anyone around us, but us mother's figured it would be best if our girls shared the books and toys to entertain each other. The other two little girls were acting up quite a bit, and had to be taken out several times throughout the two hours. It was a whole different story for Katie Baby! She did amazing! We didn't have to take her out once. She didn't act up and do her silly little tantrum. She just played with her own toys, and when she was bored of that, she would pull out a treat, and when she was done with that she would play some more, then do the routine all over again! And it wasn't like we had space at all. Every seat on the row was taken by the adults, then the kids had the space at our feet to play with. If anything, I had to take Ryan out and sit him in time out! I am so proud of my little girl! I'm not holding my breath, but now I'm hoping this is how she'll act at Church so I can maybe get something out of it.

Our very own little Christms

2010-01-23T12:08:00.002-07:00

Before we spent the day with the Moffitt's and Smith's, we wanted to have our own little Christmas. At first we thought we didn't need to get Kate anything big. We thought she was too little to understand. Two day's before I was feeling guilty, so I went out and got her one big gift. I'm so glad I did it!

When Kate first woke up, she had no idea what was going on. She was getting mad at me that I was trying to make her walk into the family room.

Once she walked around the corner and saw everything, she went straight to the table!

For some of the time, she would just sit there admiring her table.

She is in Heaven! She wouldn't even acknowledge her other toys she got.

Getting this definitely paid off!

Our fam in front of the Christmas tree.

I don't have a picture of it, but Ryan gave me the best present ever! It was so sweet, it made me cry. He wrote me the sweetest letter saying that all he wants for Christmas, he already has: Kate and I. He just wants us to be happy. With the letter, he gave me a coupon book that I get to use throughout the year! Some of them were . . . He gets to do ALL the laundry. I get to win this argument automatically. A professional massage. A date night with flowers, dinner, and a movie. He gets to mop the floor. My favorite one in the book was the very last one . . .

A NEW BABY!!!!

I can't wait to redeem this coupon! It will hopefully happen this year, but we need to choose our time wisely. Before this present, Ryan and I were on different pages. He wanted to wait another year before we start trying, and I wanted to start trying now. So we're going to compromise!

Thanks Ryan for the best Christmas ever!

Merry Christmas Everyone

First Christmas in Grandma's new home

2010-01-23T11:39:00.005-07:00

We spent Christmas evening with the Smith family. My mom moved into her new condo the very end of November, so we were able to celebrate Christmas there.

Here is Kate and Brewer

Coco and Bosty opening up some presents
For Christmas we all pitched in for my Mom's present. We all made her a beaded watch bracelet. It was funny watching her pull them out one by one. You can see in the pictures that she's getting more and more excited the more she pulls out! We also went in on a TV for her bed room. We figured it was time for her to retire her 15 year old 12" TV with an attached VCR!

For Christmas this year we decided to not exchange gifts. But of course, Kelly found a loop hole around that one! She was so kind enough to put together our family video's on a DVD for all of us. Here we are watching some of them. Most of them were when my Dad was still around. It was so nice to feel like he was apart of us this Christmas.

Parker and Lindsi also surprised us with a Christmas present. They informed us that Lindsi is PrEgNaNt!!!!

Congratulation's Smitherinos. We are so happy for you and can't wait to find

out if it's a boy or a girl.

Christmas with the Moffitt's

2010-01-23T11:15:00.003-07:00

For Christmas Eve the Moffitt's have a tradition that we all get new PJ's.

Here are all the girls sporting our pajama's.

Jess, Mom, and I

Nana and Papa were so kind to get Kate a kitchenette for Christmas. Kate loves having this!
Kate and Nana hanging out.

Mo, Lindsey, Jess, Megan, Kate, and I

We had a fabulous time with the Moffitt's on Christmas. We were fortunate enough to talk with Scott for a little while too. It was so good to hear from him!

Two disaster's and One Success

2010-01-15T13:07:00.005-07:00

It's a tradition that before Christmas us Moffitt kids get together and have a Gingerbread House contest. Well I can tell you that there was a CLEAR WINNER this year, and no it was not us!

Here is Jess, Jon, and Mo getting the frosting ready.

Jon had the coolest idea where he was going to do a little village.

Here he is working away.
And this is as far as the project got. For some reason this year, our frosting wasn't very sturdy. Everything kept falling apart. Including our house! The frosting just wouldn't hold.

So Ryan and I decided to get into a frosting fight instead! Kate did NOT like that for one second. It scared her to death. She thought we were hurting each other. Pretty cute if you ask me!

Here is our end result! Anyone wanna live in this nice rundown home??

Jess and Greg learned from our mistake, and was patient with the frosting. Greg held their roof together for like 20 minutes for the frosting to harden!
And it paid off! Their's was by far the best!

Congrats Jess and Greg for winning this time!

Thanksgiving with the Peterson's

2010-01-15T12:07:00.004-07:00

I know what your all thinking, why am I doing posts about Thanksgiving in the middle of January? I'll tell you why, because I want to put all my post's in a book sometime, and I would be so sad if I didn't have this in my book. So I'm really trying to play catch up!

After having a fabulous time with the Moffitt's, we went to Emily's (a cousin) church to get together with the Peterson side. We figure with the amount of people there are, it would be easier to meet at a church versus someones home.

Here is everyone eating the yummy Thanksgiving dinner

After eating, we thought it would be fun to play some big group games. Jamie taught us the funnest game. I'm not sure what it's called, but we pretty much make a fool out of ourselves! She tells us a saying, and we have to act it out. One was you have to get five people in a boat and pretend your rowing. One was you have to pick someone up and hold them like a baby. Another one was act like a pirate with a bird on your shoulder. Another one was man overboard, one person was on all four's and the other one puts their foot on your back, and pretend to look for someone overboard. The point is, if there isn't enough people to do that task, they are out of the game. You keep going until you have one winner!

Here we are being a pirate.

Man Overboard!

Kim's birthday was on thanksgiving, so we helped her celebrate.

Happy birthday Kimbo!

Another game we played was Kickball. Our team was the Snickelfritzes. We kicked butt!

Here is the beginning of Ryan's big score. Got a home run!

After all the games, we turned on some music for the kids to dance to.

It's Kate's new favorite thing!

Ryan was complaining that we never to a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner and

dress up, so he took it up himself to dress us up like Indians!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving with the Moffitt's

2010-01-13T14:48:00.008-07:00

We were fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving with both families this year. (We try to do that every year with all the Holidays. ) It started with the Moffitt's! We went to Ron and Suzanne's home. We hung out, enjoyed one anothers company, and ate the most delicious food ever. Grandma Moffitt is one amazing cook!

Grandma and Kate Some of the best food ever! She makes everything by scratch.
Some of the crew "slavin away"
The Clan

Kate and Aunt Jess

The cute Girls in the family!

The handsome boys

Jon, Meg's, and Mom

Ryan, Grandma, Kate, and I

I am truly lucky to have married into this family. They are the greatest family ever. We all have such a great time together! I couldn't have asked for better in-laws.

The Happiest Place on Earth

2010-01-13T12:39:00.007-07:00

I know, I know. I'm way over due on blogging. I'm two months over due to be exact. The next couple of day's might be slow for me with work, so I'm hoping I can catch up on all the excitement that's gone on in our lives the past 2 months.

So here it begins!

In November we were fortunate enough to take Kate back to the Happiest Place on Earth. I can't get over what a good baby she was during this trip. I think the only time she cried was back at the hotel. (If she even cried then.)

Here we are the first day. I think just about everyone that owned one, wore their Disney shirts. You can't go to Disney Land without getting the famous family photo in front of Mickey's face made out of flowers.

Here are all the "True" Utah fan's in our group! Although we were in Cali, we were still rootin' for the Utah Utes playing that day.

The BIRTHDAY GIRL, LeXi! Lexi turned 5 while we were there, and she dressed up as her favorite character, Tinkerbell. Can you think of a better way for a 5 year old to spend their birthday?? I love you Lexi!

Here we are with some of the Disney Characters. Kate would just stare at most of them. She liked them from afar, but didn't want to get too close.

Kate would just go, go, go, until she could handle no more. Twice this trip she would fall asleep in mid bite! Silly girl. Other's would try and get power naps too! Here is Kim, Taylor, and Greg taking a cat nap.

Ry and I were the "Record Catch"!

To the left is Kel Bel and Breckyn.

Kate and Ryan on the Merry Go Round. Kate would let Ryan take

her on the Merry Go Round over and over and over again. She loved that ride!
To the right is Taylor and Kate.

Kelly, Breckyn, my Mom, and Kate.

Random group photo's. When we would go on "It's a Small World", which all the kids loved by the way, we would take up 2 boats every time!

BaCoN wRaPpEd AsPaRaGuS . . . Need I say more?
This picture of Jackson is a funny story. The last day we finally got him to go on the Haunted Mansion. The first part was too scary for him, so during that part he would plug his ears, close his eyes, and zone out! After the ride, he would always say it was his favorite ride!

Where the Magic begins! This was my favorite time. There is an amazing firework show, and after the show, they play some music and make it snow in Disneyland! Could it get more magical than that?

Don't I make an awesome fireman??

The other two pictures are of us surfin'!

Kate, Carter, Breckyn, and even Jackson spent a lot of their time in their stroller.

Little do they know how good they have it!

The group picture is right after we all enjoyed one of the famous Corn dogs.

Here is our tradition we do every time we go. We all choose a hat to wear, and take a group photo. We always feel bad for the person we ask to take our picture because they always end up taking pictures with 10 camera's!
What a great way to end our trip. The castle looked amazing!

What a fun vacation! Can't wait until we can go back again.

A walk down Memory Lane

2009-12-07T12:58:00.006-07:00

I decided to go for a little drive this morning, and it took me down memory lane. For those of you that don't know, we moved my Mom and little sister from the house we all grew up in and know as "home", to a wonderful little condo out in Daybreak. This home has created some funny, sad, crazy, interesting, happy, and spiritual memories. As I was driving up the street, not only was I remembering memories from our home, I was remembering memories that were created in almost every single house on that street. Some of these memories were:

1) I remember playing night games almost every single night with my good friends right in front of my home. My favorite was kick the can!

2) I remember the house on the corner that once belonged to the Vandooker's. They had a little candy store in their pantry. As often as we could, we would go knock on their door and buy as much candy as we could.

3) I remember the Wilsteads. Heidi was my good friend growing up. We would find some CRAZY things to do. A silly memory I have is we would sneak into her Dad's office and take turns sitting on their copy machine, and copying a picture of our bum! Gross, I know. Don't worry, you couldn't see anything else!

4) I remember going to the Smith's home for young woman's. Linda was my favorite!

5) I remember babysitting Emily Eysser. Her brother had a tarantula and a snake in his room and I was always too scared to go downstairs. (That's where his room was.)

6) I remember after moving into our home, my Mom taking me across the street to meet my best friend, Michael. We were inseparable. We did way too many stupid things together. But that's what you do when your a kid, right? I remember they had a gigantic sandbox in their back yard, so we were always making HUGE sand houses and mazes and we would create paths to fill up with water. His sister's and Jaclyn would always come out and help us. 5 minds were better working together than 2.

7) I remember the Brown's next door. Ralf and Kris were doctors, and they worked a lot. I was "The Babysitter" a couple days a week. I would be at their house when the kids got home from school, and would sleep there since Kris wouldn't get home until way late. (I was still in school and needed my beauty sleep!)

8) I remember the Prokop's. Kelly and Summer were good friends with the girls. I was the annoying little sister that would ALWAYS go knocking on their door looking for my sisters. I followed them everywhere!

9) I remember the Wilson's. Rachel, Heidi, and I were the three musketeers. We were always at Rachel's house because her house was the funnest. I remember there always being boxes and boxes of Charleston Chews in their storage room, and we would always sneak in there and eat it. While we were down there, we were always building the coolest forts. They were the GIRLS ONLY forts. I don't really remember what we would do once it was built and we were inside though. Then every fall, we would rake up the leaves outside, and with the leaves we would build a house and use the leaves as the walls. We all had our own bedrooms. We would make a bathroom and make a little circle for the toilet! Our house was a Mansion! I think one year we had it take up her whole front yard, the side of her house, and even part of the backyard!

10) I remember the Messick's. Stephanie was another great friend. Whenever I think of their house, I think of piano's because they had about 4 piano's in their house. All the kids were AMAZING pianists. You would get goosebumps listening to them they were that good. Their Mom was a piano teacher. I remember Stephanie offering to give me piano lessons, but I declined when she told me I had to clip my fingernails. I wasn't ready to give up my long nails!

We moved into this home when I was 3 or 4 years old. If I went on about all the memories I've had in this house, we would be here forever. The memories I will cherish forever are the ones I have of my Dad. He is such a wonderful man. I remember when he was sick, and always in bed, I would always try and find an excuse to go in there and help him with something. Whether it was propping his pillow, getting his medicine for him, bringing him popcorn or a drink. We would just hang out on their "water bed". (Which I thought was the coolest thing! I couldn't ever figure out why they couldn't put live fish in there. How awesome would that be?!)

One last memory I want to share that's kind of silly is the famous blue couch downstairs. Ryan and I had our very first kiss on it. Later I found out that's where Summer and Jason, Parker and Lindsi, and Kelly and Bryce had their first kiss too! Unfortunately we got rid if that ugly couch before Jaclyn was allowed to kiss boys. Sorry J!

My Mom was able to start moving into her new home the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. She didn't have to be out if this home until Saturday so Friday night we had a HuGe SlUmBeR pArTy in the front living room. We all blew up air mattress's and had one last hurrah in our home. It was actually pretty fun. We shared some stories about the house. Saturday morning my Mom wanted to share a letter to all of us that she had found while packing up. It was a letter that Summer had written her right after my Dad had passed away. The main point of the letter was that as difficult as times may get, we will always be a family and there for one another. Dad is looking over us. We can be strong. So as my Mom opens a new Chapter in her life, we will be there for her. She will be able to create wonderful new memories in her new place, and so will we.

The kids were having fun playing with the left over wrap we had for moving. Anika wrapped up Taylor and Colter together. The best part was when they fell down together, and couldn't get back up!

The bottom right picture is Parker reading the letter. My Mom and I tried reading it, and couldn't, so Parker took over for us.

Our sleep over!

The big moving day. My Mom had SO MUCH stuff.

This is where it all began for us siblings.
I will never forget this home, and all the wonderful memories!

If you want to see more pics of the house and Mom's new place click here

(Hope you don't mind Kelly!)

Gardner Village

2009-12-03T13:07:00.006-07:00

Last Sunday we met our dear friend Cherie at Gardner Village to get some family pictures taken. She did a fantastic job! After looking at the picture's I decided it's time to get Kate some more shoes. These shoes do NOT go with the outfit. (Neither did the rest of the shoes she owns). Hope you enjoy the pics!

Ryan looking for Santa Claus?

Kate was beyond done taking pictures at this point. She's trying to push us away!

Kate had a few sad moments.

I love this picture!

Thank you SO MUCH Cherie! We really appreciate you.

ps. I know I need to catch up on a lot of posts, just been super busy. Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time.

My sister SUMMER

2009-12-01T12:44:00.002-07:00

So I just wanted to do a quick shout out to my FAVORITE sister Summer. She is the best sister anyone could ever ask for!! She is always there for me when I need her and is quick to extend a helping hand. When I grow up I want to be just like her!! When I was younger I always wanted to be where ever she was and just follow in her footsteps. I am soooo lucky to have her in my life. She is my hero. I love you Sum!!!

*****Christy, next time you may want to be sure you log out of your blog on my computer...I just could not resist the temptation....heeheeeheeehee*****

Moving Sale

2009-11-21T17:24:00.005-07:00

So my Mom is moving, and has a few items she's decided to sell. I put them up on KSL but figured I would post them here in case any of you are interested!

$75
Great fridge for your garage

$300
Sony Big Screen
$25
Solid Wood Coffee Table

$450
Solid Oak Dining Table with 2 Leafs and 8 chairs.

$25
Light Green Chair

$400

Greenish\Grey fabric. Has 7 large pillows and 2 small ones.

If your interested in any let me know! Or if you want more details on any of them go to KSL.

So Domestic!

2009-11-11T00:53:00.005-07:00

Ever since I've had Kate, I've gone through different phases of things I've wanted to accomplish. It started with making more meals for Ryan and I. Then it moved on to making Bows for Kate, so I wouldn't have to spend a fortune on them. Then I started taking the wood shop classes. Then it turned into making my own Thank You and Happy Birthday cards. Believe it or not, I've tried attempting to sew a quilt. (That project Ill probably be working on for years!) Well, I'm here to tell you my friends, the latest phase I'm going through is canning. Growing up we never did such a thing. When I moved into this ward, EVERYONE and their neighbor was talking about how much they can, and how easy it is. I didn't believe them, and just ignored them for about 2 years. Finally last Tuesday I talked myself into going to a little class Enrichment put together. They had 4 different ladies teach us recipes we can do with apples. One was Apple pie filling, one was applesauce, and the last two were different ways to make apple butter. A few of us younger girls felt really ambitious, and decided we would get together and have one person teach us how to do it. Shortly after we met at our dear friend, Liz's house. Before hand, we were able to go to another lady's house in our ward, and pick a BUNCH of apples from her beautiful Apple Tree.

This box here was full to the brim. We used SO many ApPlEs!

We all took turns doing the different steps. This was only the beginning of the big fat mess we made.
The apples are boiling. We're a step closer!

We all had to bring our babies with us. Here is Brie with her little girl, Claire.

Here is Kate playing with her friend, Ally. The girls did SO good. We were there for about 4 hours, so it was a good thing the kids had each other.

Checking the apples!

Once the apples were soft, we put them in this AMAZING strainer that separated the core, seeds, and skin from the good stuff. Boy, was this an arm workout! This is our friend Emily.

Now it's time to can! We're getting the air bubbles out.

And the finished result! I am so proud of myself for attempting this. If you would've asked me a year ago if I would do such a thing, I would've said . . . In your Dreams. . .

I'm beginning to realize that if you put your mind to something, anything is possible! Thank you everyone for being such an inspiration to me. Because of you, and the things I've seen you accomplish, it's motivated me to be a better person, and more outgoing.

Thank you Liz for lending us your house and knowledge. Thank you Louise for letting us pick from your Apple Tree. Thank you Rochelle and Vicki for letting us use your nifty strainer's to make life easier for us. I really really appreciate it!

Taylor Mckenzie

2009-11-11T00:33:00.003-07:00

One of our wonderful nieces got baptized this weekend, and we were fortunate enough to travel to Colorado and be there to support her. Taylor, we are so very proud of you, and this decision you have made to be baptized.

Here is Taylor in front of the Denver Temple. So beautiful!

Here is some of the Clan.

Kate, me, and Taylor! She looked SO beautiful in her new church dress.

We love you so much, and thank you for letting us share this wonderful experience with you.

Halloween Extravaganza

2009-11-02T09:24:00.005-07:00

We had quite the week last week celebrating Halloween. It started with FHE Monday night. We got together with the Moffitt's and carved our pumpkins. We had a great time. It was a little different this year because we were missing Scott, Jon, and Morgan. But we made the best of the situation! Doesn't Mark look like he's going to seriously do some damage to that pumpkin?! (If you can't tell, that's one LARGE knife he's holding.)

Thursday Kate and I went to Colter's Halloween parade. There were some awesome costumes. Colter's was by far the best in his school! Next in line would have to be Napoleon Dynamite. He was the funniest kid! He stopped in front of us and didn't crack a smile the whole time. Just stared at us the way Napoleon would! Then at the very end he busted out the moon walk. Boston and Brewer looked so cute too! Brewer kept wanting to walk in the parade with everyone!

Friday night Ryan and I participated in a Halloween 5k. Before we started running, we thought we were absolutely crazy! It was FREEZING outside, and Ryan had only ran once since the Vegas relay, and I hadn't ran at all. About a half hour before we left we decided we would show some spirit and dress up. We had very little to work with! Ryan was a beach bum, and I was a baby. (Surprise, surprise! That's really the only thing i dressed up as in elementary school.) It was actually pretty embarrassing. I'm sure no one took me seriously. It was probably entertaining for the people running behind me. I can only imagine running behind a huge pink blob with her hair bouncing all over the place. But we had a lot of fun! My prize for running was a box of girl scout cookies. Ryan's prize was a metal. He took second place in his age division! I took 4th in my age division. It was amazing because the last 1/4 mile, you turned a corner out of a neighborhood, and you got this spectacular view of the Oquirrh Mountain temple. I tried taking a picture afterward, but it didn't turn out very well. It was a fun 5k though. We will probably do it again.

For Halloween Kate was a pumpkin. Isn't she the cutest pumpkin you've ever seen? She hated the stem part of her costume, so we had to leave it off.

We went to Grandma Smith's first and hung out with the Smith kids for a bit. Afterwards we went to Nana and Papa's house and did a little trick - or - treating with cousin Morgan. Kate had so much fun! Surprisingly, I think her favorite part was walking everywhere by herself, not the candy.

After visiting the family, we came home and attempted to pass out candy. Sadly enough, we only had 4 different groups of kids come to our home. Oh well! More candy for us.

We hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween!

7 Days

2009-10-17T21:16:00.005-06:00

That's how many days I've been sick. It all started last Saturday. The day started out so well. We were finishing up the Vegas race. Ryan and I got massages. Went swimming for about a minute. Took a nice long nap in 70 degree weather. We were walking from our hotel room to the restaurants when it hit me. I started getting a really bad headache. By the time we made it to the food court I was shivering. Once we sat down for dinner my whole body was shaking like crazy, and my hands were purple. My sickness had hit me hard in a matter of 5-10 minutes. Saturday night was by far the worst. I've never ever had a headache that bad. I was tossing and turning all night long. I was in tears. I was coughing like mad. I seriously thought my life was coming to an end. Every minute I was throwing my sheets off because I was so hot, then putting them back on me because I was so cold. At about 2:30 in the morning I took some medicine and Ryan was so good to get me a drink of water. I said a little prayer and pleaded that I would be able to sleep for a couple of hours and get feeling a little better. My prayer had been answered! Granted, I woke up with my clothes damp from head to foot, but hey, I was better! Or so I thought. We drove home from Vegas, and I was so excited to see my baby girl. I had missed her oh so very much. Then it hit me, I really wasn't feeling very well. I came home and took my temperature. I believe it was 102.8. Monday, when Ryan got home from work, I went to the doctor and he diagnosed me with Swine flu. He put me on Tamiflu (which I personally don't think helped). I found out Tuesday that this flu is going around everywhere. My poor nieces and nephews in Colorado got this terrible sickness. Even little Carter who is Kate's age. It turns out that I wasn't the only one who got this in Vegas. Cousin Jen and friend Drew got it too. :( I wouldn't even wish this illness on my worst enemy.

I am so so happy to say that my fever is gone as of yesterday! To be honest I don't think I could have handled it another day. I've been going crazy. The only good thing that came out of this week was that I was lucky enough to spend so much time with Kate. And what's even better is that she hasn't gotten sick! I am hoping that she won't get sick because we went on Thursday and got her the H1N1 shot. Now we need to make sure Ryan doesn't get sick. But Kate was so so so good this week. It was almost like she knew I was sick, and that she had to be on her best behavior. I think she was in heaven too because she had my undivided attention. We did whatever she wanted. She ate whatever she wanted. We watched whatever she wanted on TV. Life couldn't be better for her! My favorite was when we would just hang out on the couch and she would cuddle up next to me. Usually she's too busy to have the time to cuddle.

Now all I need to be 100% better is to get rid of this nasty cough. I can not wait to get back to normal life. I hope this nice weather sticks around at least one more day or two so I can enjoy it. I can not wait to get back to work. Believe it or not, I've missed it so much! I'm sorry to all of you that I had to cancel this week. Believe me though, I was doing you a favor!

Thank you so so much to all of you that have helped Ryan and I out this week. Thanks for your meals, trips to the grocery store, your concern and prayers, and help. We really appreciate it.

ps Jen and Drew, I am so sorry if I was the one that got you sick. I promise I didn't do it on purpose.

The (801)- der's

2009-10-13T16:55:00.018-06:00

Yay! I am finally feeling well enough to work on this post. I've been working on this since Sunday. (It is now Friday.) Last weekend was our VaLlEy Of FiRe relay. We had so much fun! And it was extra special for me because I got to run it with my hubby. We left Thursday evening and slept in Mesquite. We actually beat the Mangum's and Brown's down there, so we decided to play a little joke on Uncle Gary. We spoke with the lady at the front desk, and convinced her to tell Gary that he had no reservation, and the hotel was booked up for the night. We (Parker, Ryan, and I) were hiding in a small room right by them recording the whole thing. We got a kick out of it! Fortunately nothing got out of hand. Gary actually didn't act up at all. We were hoping he would make it more enjoyable for us to watch.

Van 1 had to leave bright and early to make it to the start line. Our team started at 8 am. People in Van 1 were

Jordan Brown

Parker Smith

Natalie Pettit

Gary Mangum

Kim Brown

Jen Chunat (Mangum)

They did great starting out the team! We met up with them around 11:30, and Jen handed the Baton off to us shortly after. Matt did AMAZING! He kicked butt. He wore the cape the entire time he ran (His first leg). We stopped a couple times to cheer him on, and give him some water and try to cool him off with the spray bottle.

Mike was our next runner. Here we were able to catch step by step his first Kill! Far left picture, if you look closely, you can see the victim in the distance. Top right corner, here he is passing her. Then in the bottom picture, he's leaving her in the dust!

Ryan was after Mike. Here he is in some pictures stretching out and warming up. His first leg was 7.7 miles. It was about 2pm. Dead hot. It was 85 degree's outside, plus with the heat of the cement it was I swear 100. (That's what it read in our car). About 3.5 miles into it, Ryan started throwing up. The heat got the better of him :( Drew stepped in for two miles, which he ran in 13 minutes, so Ryan could cool himself down, and finish his leg strong. Thanks Drew! Unfortunately Drew threw up too right after he got done running the 2 miles. It was a tough leg.

In the bottom left picture, Mike is handing the Baton off to Ryan, and in the bottom right picture, Ryan is handing it off to me.

My first leg was 6.1 miles, so not nearly as bad as Ryan's. I was only too happy to give the baton up to Drew. I ended up running with the spray bottle in my hand, so I could cool myself off every 2 seconds. Smartest thing I could have done!

After we all ran, and Greg handed the Baton off to Van #1, we figured we gotta get some sleep. We found a nice little park and crashed! It went by too fast. I swear just as we fell asleep, we got a text saying we're almost up. So we packed up the car, and were on our way.

We were finally running at night. Which was a good thing, and a bad. The good thing was that we didn't have to deal with the heat, the bad thing was that EVERYONE and their neighbor was getting lost. Matt was the first. He was running on a trail the whole time, so we couldn't stop along to way to make sure he was going the right way. Luckily we dropped Mike off at the exchange, then went and looked for Matt where he should have come off the trail, and started running through the neighborhood. I guess he stayed on the trail the whole time, and ran an extra mile to the exchange. By the time we got back to it, Matt had already finished, and Mike had started. I guess there were girls running out of the sagebrush with their legs bleeding and they were just bawling. It was scary.

While we were driving through the neighborhood looking for Matt, we came across this MANSION. It totally did not belong in this neighborhood. It was like a mini hotel. It was huge. This picture we took doesn't do justice. We were guessing how many elevators this place has.

First picture, Jen just finishing her scary leg on the trail, 2nd- Matt starting his leg, 3rd-Matt waiting for Jen,4th- The boys hanging out- Parker, Greg, Gary, Jordan, Drew, Matt, and Ryan, 5th- the Mansion, 6th- Matt running.

Ryan ran on a trail the whole time too. Luckily he didn't get lost. His second leg was 4.0 miles. He made awesome time. When he passed the Baton off to me I think it was about 1:30 in the morning. My 2nd leg was 3.5 miles and most of it was on a trail. Since I did not get lost, it was kind of nice being on a trail and not worrying about any cars. I felt like I ran pretty fast! This one was definitely my favorite leg.

1- Ryan getting ready to run 2- Greg and Matt hanging out waiting for Ryan 3- Random picture of the time. 4- Drew running his second leg.

Here we are waiting for Drew to finish his leg. His second was over 8 miles and his feet were KILLING him. He got a blister on his first leg, and had medical wrap it for him. They ended up wrapping it too tight, and cut off his circulation. You know when something is wrong with Drew when he doesn't care that people are passing him. He's the king of Kills, and will not let people pass him.

1- Greg and I hanging out on the "corner" waiting for drew 2- Me getting so excited that our van is almost done for the night! 3- Drew passing the Baton to Greg.

Sad story about this corner. Exactly one hour after we took this photo, a drunk driver came and hit and killed a runner that was standing on this corner waiting for their runner to finish. My condolences go out to the family.

Here are pictures of our van and team.

My nickname was Kinki. And the boy's nickname was "Scrotum Slapper's". I'll take my nickname any day over theirs!

Good ol' Greg entertaining us. He let me do his hair!

So our last leg's were done in the morning when it was already hot. Everyone woke up not feeling very well. Drew's feet were gone. There was no way he was going to run his last leg, so we helped him out and ran it. Without meaning to, I ran his first mile. My last leg was only supposed to be 3 miles. It ended up being 4, and they didn't warn anyone about it. I wasn't too happy about it. I feel like I could have done better if I knew ahead of time I was running 4 not 3. Oh well! So then Matt ran the next two miles, and Mike ran the last 3 miles of Drew's leg.
1- Greg peeing. 2- Ryan and I hangin out. 3- Greg coming back from giving someone water 4- Drew hanging out in the back.

Greg finished the race for us strong! Yes, you see it right! He is wearing a cape AND Superman underpants that says "Man of Steel".
(There is also a random picture of Mike jumping a cone on his first leg)
The Finish line!!!!! It was at the Red Rock Hotel.
It was so much better than the finish line for Wasatch Back. Probably because there was still a party going on! We finished at 12:15. I am so proud of our team! Way to go everyone!

At the finish line, Ryan and I were able to enjoy massages. I was in Heaven! It was Ryan's very first massage, and I know he enjoyed it. Now I need to treat him to a nice, more relaxing one. Afterwards, we went and crashed by the pool.

A huge thank you to Gary Mangum. Thank you for sponsoring us and making this happen! Good luck in the Del Sol race!

SuRpRiSe! (not)

2009-09-29T14:26:00.004-06:00

On Spetember 24th Ryan turned a big 3-0! I know that this is a big deal so I thought I would throw him a surprise birthday partay. I was so excited to do this because Ryan hates surprises, and I thought it would be so fun for him to be surprised. I thought that the only way to keep it a surprise was to let everyone know via phone. I text everyone, and called everyone that doesn't text. I would then erase all the texts so there was no proof. Well unfortunately I was too slow at erasing some texts. One Sunday morning I received a text while getting ready for church. Ryan was curious to see who was texting me, so he opened my phone and saw who it was from, then it made him even more curious what she had to say to me, so he opened it and all it said was "I'm sorry, Ryan and I can't make it". So that made Ryan even MORE curious, and he went to my sent texts and found the one I sent to everyone about the surprise party.
My bad! It was still so much fun though! Luckily he didn't tell me he knew about it until we pulled into the house. I thought I was doing so good, I even had him reading me an email from his phone when we pulled into the neighborhood so he wouldn't see any of the cars.
I feel like we had a great turnout! Lots of friends and family came to celebrate. We ate food, hung out, roasted marsh mellows, and had fun!
I'm sad though that I didn't get my camera out til the very end, so I wasn't able to capture ALL the fun that was happening.

Kate, me, birthday boy, Greg, Jess, Megan, and Jon

Cute Morgan, Andy, and birthday boy

(and Jess!)
Lori, Tyson, Gavin, Christian, Ashlee, Carter, Ryan, me, Kate, Taryn, Ryan, and Everett

The ladies!

Thank you EVERYONE! I couldn't have done this party without all your help and support.

Happy Birthday Ryan!

I love you.

Boutique

2009-09-23T10:37:00.002-06:00

The past few months I've been attending a paint workshop class. I feel like I have been able to make some pretty cute things. I'm sad to say that the girls in charge of this class are going to stop doing them. They are doing a boutique tomorrow, Sept 24th. Here are the things I've been able to do. They have tons more that will be at the Boutique.

I love this home because the "o" switches out.
Here are some of the other o's for the Home

I'm going to go to the boutique tomorrow for a little bit. Let me know if your interesting in going and I'll give you the details!

P.S. Summer and Kelly, whatever they don't sell tomorrow, they are going to Denver for a week. (They rented a kiosk or something.) Ill get the info for you if your interested in going to check it out!

This is the Birthday that never ends!

2009-09-22T13:28:00.004-06:00

Now that Kate is 13 months, I figured it's about time I share her birthday experience with everyone. We were in Newport with the Moffitt family over her birthday. She shares the same birthday with her Uncle Andy, and since he was able to get into Disneyland for free we figured we would tag along with them. So Kate spent most of the day at the Happiest Place on Earth! We had so much fun. She was happy the entire time we were there! We had to laugh because the first time she acted up was when we exited the park. She freaked out and had a tantrum! She realized that she was leaving her favorite place, DiSnEyLaNd!

When we got back from Disneyland, Kate was ready for bed due to not having a nap all day. We decided that we would just have to do her birthday cake the next day. Well, while we were singing happy birthday to Andy, we woke Kate up. So I figured that since she was awake, and we were eating cake anyway, we should just let her eat her birthday cake with us. That was quite the experience! We sang happy birthday to her, and said that we need to do it softly so we don't upset her. I won't mention any names, but someone decided half way through to sing really really loud! Kate got so sad, and started balling. It was actually pretty funny and entertaining, as you can see in these photo's! We were able to calm her down for a little bit.

She cried some more when she realized everyone was watching her. She usually loves attention, but this night it was the last thing she wanted! We decided to move onto her birthday presents. I'm not sure what set her off, but she started to cry AGAIN! We didn't even get through one present when we decided it was BeD tImE.

The next day was attempt number two! She did great with the presents. I believe with the cake I gave her 3 chances before I gave up. She liked to play with it, but didn't care to eat it. I totally thought she would dig right in. She's always been quite the eater.

When we got home from Newport, I wanted to throw Kate a birthday party for those who weren't with us on her birthday. I thought for sure that she would dig into this cake. We sang happy birthday to her softly, and she almost cried, but we made it through with no tears. She was silly with her cake. She kept leaning forward and trying to bite into it. Afterward, she had a blast opening her presents! She got her very own car! She got her first dolly, glow worm, $20 bill, $5 bill, and penny(Thanks Colter for her penny :))! Along with some adorable clothes.

Thank you everyone for all that you have done for Kate.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY KATE!!!!!

We love you so so so so much.

Moffitt PARTAY

2009-09-02T19:44:00.009-06:00

As some of you know, we do an annual trip with the Moffitt's. The last 4 years it's been to Newport California. Ryan and I couldn't go last year do to me being prego with Kate, so we were extra excited to attend this year with a new addition.

Here is Kate getting ready for the big trip. She got her beach toys and a hat from Nanna and Papa.

Kate and I went on a mini bike ride.
This is my new favorite restaurant in Newport, Blue Beet. You can see the guy in the background playing his guitar. He was amazing.

Kate was usually naughty in restaurants, so we would take turns walking around with her until the food came. This restaurant had three floors. Here's Kate and I browsing the 2nd floor.

Aunt Jess took some great pictures of Kate at the beach. (To view them all you can click here.)

This was my favorite one. She's just hanging out watching the boogie boarder.

Morgan and I were trying to make a sand castle, but I'm no good at that so Andy came and showed us how it's done! Everyone else came and helped.

Our little fam playing in the water. Kate absolutely LOVED it. We would bring her back to the sand, and she would crawl right back out into the ocean. She couldn't get enough of it.

Scotty, Ry, Mo, and Kate playin in the sand.

Nanna was so good to play with Kate.

One of her favorite things to do was come sit in these chairs then clap for herself because she was so proud!

Scott, Jon, Kate, and Megan.

Kate's first birthday was while we were in Newport and this is just a glimpse of it. I'll do another post dedicated to her BIG day.

One day we went to SOAK CITY. At the end of the day, the boys dared the girls to do something. . . . Here we are waiting. . .

Here are the boys waiting . . .

Wait for it . . . Wait for it . . .

And this is what they dared us to do!!! It was actually pretty fun. We had a good time.

Another day we went on a real bike ride with the fam to THE WEDGE. Kate had her moments. The first five minutes she was in heaven. Then she acted up. She was super tired. Ryan and I had to stop and calm her down. It took about a half hour before we were able to get back on the bikes. She eventually fell asleep!

Here's the whole fam at The Wedge. Kate was still sleeping, hence the bike in the family shot!
Unfortunately, the trip had to come to an end. Ryan and I drove to try and save money. Ten hours is a LONG time to be in a car. The DVD player was our lifesaver.

Scotty got his mission call and of all places, he got called to Long Beach California! It's the perfect place for him to serve. We are so happy for him. We might have to take a break from Newport next year, so goodbye Newport for now.

CoLtEr BaY

2009-08-31T10:03:00.013-06:00

In July we took our annual trip up to Jackson Hole Wyoming. It was Kates first year. She did SO good until it came to sleeping at night. It was pretty cold at night, so she ended up sleeping with us most nights to stay warm.
Here is Kate ready to leave! She is so excited.

Kate and Breckyn had the same pajama's. They had so much fun together. It was fun for us to see Breckyn so much this trip. She has grown so fast, and we're seeing so much of her personality now.

We had some interesting games we played this year. This one was one of my favorites. It's called "ZOOM . . . BONG!" It was hilarious. I'd have to say my favorite person to watch during this game was Bryce.

We did a LOT this trip. The first day we attempted to go to the pool at the lodge, but it was closed for the day. So we ended up going to the lake and played. I think we lasted about five minutes before it rained on us! We had fun though while it lasted. Some of the kids were brave and got in the FREEZING cold water.

One day we had quite the eventful day. We went river rafting AND horseback riding! It was an absolute blast. We had two boats. Boat #1 consisted of Bryce(who led us through the rapids), Ginni, Kim, Jenny, Kevin, Paul, Jordan, Amanda, Jason, Taylor, and I. I would have to say the craziest part of the whole experience was when we were going over Big Kahuna and Lunch Counter. We knew we were doomed because our boat was low on air, so right when we got up to the first rapid we stopped paddling and all leaned into the boat as much as we could. Our boat totally TACOED. We lost Kim, Ginni, Jason, and Amanda. Everyone of course was fine, but poor Taylor. It was her first time river rafting, and it terrified her to see her daddy fall in. We were able to calm her down though. We told her how much cooler we were because we now have a story to tell! Where the other boat didn't. :)

Boat #2 consisted of Jesse, Steph, Jen, Glen, Matt, Greg, Lauren, Anika, Cailyn, Kay, and Gary(who was the leader of that group).

Before river rafting, we went horseback riding. This is where we stopped at the top to let the horses rest.

Here is the whole clan that went. It was everyone that went river rafting minus Jason, Cailyn, Anika, and Taylor. This was another adventure! When you get this many horses together, things can go wrong. I won't go into detail about everything. Some horses didn't like eachother, and kicked eachother to show that they didn't like eachother. Kim got kicked in the arm and Steph got bucked off the horse :( They are both fine though. There were a group of us who wanted our horses to RUN, so we would stay back about five or ten minutes to let the others get a head start, then we would run to catch up. It was SO SO much fun. We did that a couple times. We had the horses for 4 hours so by the end, we were ready to be done. Some ran ahead. Lauren was in that group. I guess as they were running back, Lauren's horse decided he was too good for the marked path, so he decided to run onto the highway! Lauren couldn't gain control of the horse, so she just ran and enjoyed it! There was a huge semi that was coming at her, that had to swerve out of the way since the horse wouldn't move. Since we were right at the end, the workers could see Lauren and her horse, so they came and rescued her. All in all I think everyone had a good time.

Another day we went into Yellowstone. We saw old Faithful go off. We also walked around and saw all the other geysers. There are a few that go off between every 5 hours and 10 days, and one of them went off while we were there. Unfortunately I missed it. I was running with Kate trying to get there in time, but I was too slow :( I heard it was way cool though. It was the 10th day, so the workers knew it was going to go off. Apparently it was bigger and better than Old Faithful.

One day we hiked Hidden Falls. Ryan, Kate, Jaclyn, and I walked around and met the others that took the ferry over. It's a fun little hike that kids usually enjoy too.

Here's the girls! Jaclyn, Kelly, Summer, Mom, and I.

Ryan, Kate, and I hiking back while the others took the ferry. It was so pretty!

We went boating 2 of the days. Here's our little family.

Carter and Kate took a nap together in the cuddy! Cute cousins.

I actually got up skiing! I was so proud of myself. The funny thing is, when I was behind the boat every time I said "hit it", I didn't get up. Every time Paul just went without me telling him to, I got up! I'm definately no pro, but it was fun.

Ryan really enjoyed surfing behind the Mangum's boat.

Ryan and I are enjoying the beautfil "TEETS".

This was our last day at camp.

What a fun and eventful trip. See you next year Colter Bay!

Kate sure is growing up

2009-08-31T08:46:00.000-06:00

Christy I'm sure will be doing some elaborate post about Kate turning 1, but I thought I'd quickly send a picture of my big girl sitting in her chair pretending to read.
Sent from my mobile device.

You know your A/C is broken when . . .

2009-07-08T16:34:00.008-06:00

11. When you get up from the couch you automatically look back to see if you left a sweat angel (think of a snow angel)

10. You don't sleep with any blankets or sheets.

9. You sweat just sitting in the luxury of your home.

8. No matter how long you have the blow dryer on, your clients hair doesn't seem to be getting dry. (Hmmm. . . maybe she's sweating just a little bit.)

7. Your daughter is drinking so much water, even the camels are jealous of her.

6.Your constantly finding excuses to leave your house, even if it's just to sit in your car with the a/c blasting.

5. Running out of HOT water in the shower is a WONDERFUL thing.

4. You go to pick up a Hersheys candy Bar in your pantry to find it melted.

3. Your neighbor visits you and within minutes she has gathered 3 fans from 3 different neighbors, one of which is a window a/c unit. ( That also shows you what amazing neighbors we have!)

2. You set out a stick of butter to let it soften a bit before cooking and come back to find it melted on the counter.

And the #1 reason you know your A/C is NOT working. . . . . The thermometer reads 87 DEGREES in your house.

Recap of May and June

2009-07-06T11:31:00.009-06:00

How on Earth do all of you find time to Blog so often? Kudos to you! I decided that there are so many different posts I want to do, but time just keeps slipping away from me. So Ill combine them all.

May 11Th was the day that my Father passed away 15 years ago. Kate hadn't been to the cemetery yet, so I thought it would be appropriate for her go see Grandpa. She had a blast!

We found some time to go out to Colorado to visit two of my sisters and their family.

Here is Kate and Breckyn.

Kate, Breckyn(Kelly's), and Carter(Summer's)

Kate and her Cousin Brewer

Kate was so proud of herself! She found the Twizzlers. Yum!

We went to Taylorsville Days when The Neil Diamond Impersonator was there. It was so much fun! Kate was a great sport. This was the tail end of the music before the Firework show. The second the fireworks started, Kate was OUT.
We went camping with the ward the last week in June. It was so much fun! We brought up the game Curses, and stayed up late playing it. The next morning it was all everyone could talk about. It was hilarious! We had a wonderful time. Here is Ryan out in the rain fixing our leak we had.

Kate and I just playing in the tent why Ryan was fixing the leak. This was the first time Kate had ever gone camping. It was freezing that night. Some neighbors in our ward had a leak in their tent and all of their sleeping bags and blankets were soaked. (There was 6 of them plus a baby :() We had packed extra blankets but felt they needed them far more than we did. So we just had Kate sleep with us for extra warmth!

Gollhofers and Neeleys came to visit a lot in June! We spent a lot of the days at the pool.

Over Memorial Day weekend we went up to the Homestead with the Moffitt's. The last day those that wanted to went horseback riding!

Even little Mo Mo!

Morgan was so cute with Kate. Here she is pushing Kate on the swing.

Morgan found EIGHT baby skunks living under the store. They were so cute. They kept coming out then running back under.

Baby Kate just looking cute for Church. (Thanks for the princess dress Summer!)

LaSt BuT nOt LeAsT

I had the chance to run in the Wasatch Back Relay with a lot of my cousins, sister and Uncle. We had the best time ever. It was quite the experience. If you want to check out all the pictures from the relay, you can check them out here

Here is our team at the finish line. I was fortunate enough to be the one running into the finish line. It was probably the best memory of the whole race. A wonderful feeling of accomplishment. Our team was Gary Mangum, Jen Mangum and her fiance Glen Chunat, Greg Mangum, Matt Mangum, and Mike Moffitt. (They were Van Number 1) Jaclyn, Kim Brown, Natalie Pettit, and her two friends Shawna Wilson and Kim Perkins. (We were van number 2)

We had such a great time that the very next day, we signed up to do the relay from Lake Mead to Vegas! I'm stoked. It's going to be fun. Not so fun in the heat though. But it's in October so hopefully the heat wont be as bad. We'll be the "Saints running in Sin City".

Four Years

2009-06-10T19:55:00.005-06:00

That is how long Ryan and I have been married. It's been a wonderful journey, and I wouldn't change a single thing. Ryan is the greatest thing that has ever stepped foot into my life. What would I do without him? He is such a wonderful and loving husband. We have so many fond memories. We have so much fun together. I hate the time I spend away from him. I count down the hours/minutes/seconds until he gets home from work/Young mens (that's where he's at right now!) I look forward to the great memories that we will continue to make. I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with my best friend, companion, husband, and lover! (That's right!) Our Anniversary was on Monday. Ryan got off work early and we went to the yummy CHEESECAKE FACTORY for dinner. It was a wonderful treat. I can't tell you the last time I was able to sit down for dinner and enjoy the WhOlE mEaL without any interruptions. (Thanks Jana for watching Kate!) Then afterwards we went car shopping. How amazing is Ryan?! Giving me a car for our anniversary. It'll take a lot to top that one! We haven't picked one out yet but mark my word, you will be the first to know when we do get one.

Thanks for all you do for me Ry! I love you!

HaPpY AnNiVeRsArY!

I love this picture of us on our wedding day.

Candid shot of us coming out of the temple.

The rest of the photo's are really random. Shots of good times we've had throughout our marriage.

Miss 4 eyes and Ryan hanging out in Colorado.

Ryan was the Magician and I was his assistant at our wonderful friends Halloween Dinner Party.
Having a great time in Disneyland.

On our way home from Lake Powell.

Enjoying Sea World.
Us at Bear Lake. . . Man I miss that place.

Our cute little family up at the Homestead. Gotta love this Family Photo!

Bringin Back Style

2009-06-04T12:59:00.002-06:00

Baby Kate's hair is starting to get pretty long where it's getting fun to style. I was playing with it the other day, and this is what she got!

Here she is sportin the MoHaWk! I say it looks pretty good on her!

The 3rd time's the ChArM

2009-06-03T09:25:00.002-06:00

We have taken Kate swimming three times now and the first two times she did not like it AT ALL. The first time we took her was out in Colorado. We went to an indoor pool. Every time there was even the tiniest splash she would freak out. We thought that if we kept trying to get in the pool she would eventually warm up to the idea. We were unfortunately wrong. I think we really wore her out because the second we wrapped her up in a towel and gave her a binki, she was out.

Our second attempt was at the Homestead with the Moffitt's. Now don't let this smile trick you. This was in the room before we headed to the pool. We thought she would for sure like it better because the water was actually warm. Once again, she fussed almost the whole time. We thought that maybe if we gave her the binki in the pool she would enjoy it more. I'm sure Jess was in heaven because when we gave her the binki she was all cuddly with Jess in the pool!

The third time finally came! I was really nervous thinking she was going to hate it, and she LOVED it! Although this picture doesn't do it justice, she was smiling and splashing the whole time! It was so much fun. I don't know if it was the fact that we were outside that made the difference because the other two times were indoor pools.

We are extremely excited for this Summer and to be able to play and enjoy our time outside. Kate is always in heaven outside. If she's ever fussy, just take her outside, and she'll immediately stop!

My Twitter catch up blog post

2009-06-02T08:41:00.016-06:00

For all of you who follow me on Twitter, you've probably seen all the following pictures and posts but I thought I'd repost them on the Blog. Most of them are older but they are still fun. I'll work from oldest to newest.

A month ago, I had a healthy dose of testosterone rush to my brain and I purchased a grill. I like being a guy.

I went down to Lake Powell with my Brother-in-law and a bunch of his friends. We had an awesome time and I fell in love with wake surfing. We also built a waterslide right on the beach.

Here is a random shot of Kate wearing Christy's headband. She is so so happy.

Giving the vampires their payment for keeping the werewolves away. Just kidding. I have now donated over 4 gallons since I got home from my mission. I wonder how many people are walking around with my blood in thier veins?

We went up to the Homestead for the Memorial Day weekend and had an amazing time. The first night we were there we decided to make Smores and this was our first fire pit. We later stole the bigger and nicer pit when the people who had "reserved" it didn't show up.

Here is Morgan pushing Kate on the swing. This was the first time Kate had tried the swing but she loved it.

Wasatch Back Relay

2009-06-01T21:51:00.004-06:00

As most of you don't know, I am running in the Ragnar Relay June 19th. Call me crazy! I can't tell you how excited I am though. I have never ran in a relay before so it's a big step to start with something like this. But I can do it! My biggest supporter believe it or not has been wonderful Baby Kate. She comes along with me on all my runs. I know I need a jogging stroller but this stroller has actually worked out really well for us. Here is Kate all bundled up ready to go! (Ready to take a nap really but it works.) You can actually see some snow in the background! I think this picture was taken either in Feb or March.

Our team consists of Uncle Gary, Cousins Jen and her boyfriend Glen, Matt, Greg, Natalie, and Kim on my side of the family. Sister Jaclyn. Cousin Mike on Ryan's side of the fam. Then Natalie has two friends that joined us.

Tonight was great! Half of our team totally bonded. Matt, Greg, Mike, Jaclyn, Jen, and I ran up to our cabin from the bottom of our gate. For those of you that know where that is, you know how steep it gets. We didn't figure out exactly, but we think it's 3.3 miles. We cleaned our cabin spotless. Then down we came! Uncle Gary joined us on the way down. It was so much fun! I am actually giving myself too much credit though. On the way up, I walked most the time. But on the way down was a whole different story!

I'm going running in the morning with a friend, so after that Ill have an even better idea of whats it going to be like running in the race. For those of you who don't know how it works, we have twelve runners. Every one has 3 different legs they run. Each leg consists of between 3-8 miles. We start in Logan at 8:30 am on Friday June 19th, and end in Park City on the 20th. Some of us will run at 2 in the afternoon and some of us will run at 2 in the morning! We will have a few hours in between each leg to rest, and try to sleep before our next leg.

If anyone has any advice I would gladly take it! I'm so thrilled to have this experience. I know I'm not the fasted, and I know our team wont win, But I do know that I will start this race, and finish this race and I will be so proud of myself!

GO TEAM NAT & CO!!!!

Sorry for the major gap in our blogs. Life is busy! I have no idea where you guys get your time to blog. I wish I had at least 5 more hours every day to get things done. Where does time go? You would think that I would have plenty of time with Kate waking up between 6-6:30 now. I guess I just find other things to fill my time. Also, I would try and blog and every time I tried to add a picture, we would lose our Internet connection. So frustrating! Luckily Ryan fixed it though. No more excuses. I have tons to blog about so hopefully there will be lot more to come in the near future. No more waiting for 3 months! (My last blog was February, the others were Ryan)

No good deed goes unpunished

2009-04-20T21:02:00.001-06:00

So on the way back from dinner Christy asked me if I would put some air in one of her tires. I being the amazing husband that I naturally am was only too happy to help. We pulled up to the "free air" box at the gas station and I set to work. It was kind of a strange system and I didn't exactly know where to turn the air on so I grabbed the first thing I saw with a hose attached to it and started trying to attach it to the tire. The attachment on the end of the hose wasn't very snug so I flipped it around to determine what was going wrong. As I was staring at the end I squeezed the trigger and was given a huge surprise. It turns out the air nozzle was on the side of the machine. I had found the water hose without knowing it. Needless to say I sprayed myself pretty good in the face. See if I ever help Christy again.

Monster Attack!

2009-04-18T12:18:00.001-06:00

I found this monster in the backyard while I was trying to tame the jungle back there. He was hanging out in a little hole next to the stream. I put a stick in his claws and once he clamped down I pulled him out. Christy seemed completely disgusted by him but when it came time to dispose of him, Christy took the high road and saved his life. So I put him back in his hole and wished him luck.

Christy's industrious Farmer

2009-04-05T17:55:00.001-06:00

For any of you who play Carcassonne, you'll notice Christy's little yellow farmer in an awesome spot. He's farming in the middle of a loop.

If you don't know this game, give us a call and we'll introduce you.

Persistence pays off

2009-03-21T13:00:00.002-06:00

So I decided last fall that when it got nice enough in the spring I would start trying to tame my yard. The first project was to tear out a random tree that had grown between the canal and the fence. I thought it would be a simple project that might take an afternoon. I was so wrong! It had roots made of steel and after digging and cutting for a week I finally got the bulk of the stump out. I was so proud of myself I had to take a picture. Next is digging out the canal before they turn the water back on so I can pipe it off and cover the canal. We'll see how well that goes.

Here is the stump next to my chainsaw.

Our 'NEW' car

2009-03-11T22:50:00.000-06:00

So our NEW (I guess I should say newer) car hit 100,000 miles. I hope it can hang in there for a little longer. Compared to Christy's car, my car is just getting started. The Civic has nearly 160,000 miles on it.

Breckyn Ann

2009-03-06T11:13:00.005-07:00

My sister, Kelly, had her beautiful baby on February 17th. Breckyn Ann Neeley was born at 8:22 in the morning weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces and 19 inches long. Kate and I were able to go spend some time with them. Breckyn is such a good baby, and already has so much personality!

Just to give you an idea of how little Breckyn is next to Kate.

Breckyn's first experience in her swing.

Breckyn, Kate, and I

Not trying to toot my own horn, but I made this adorable bow!

Congrats Kelly and Bryce! She is one good looking girl!

Kate's Disney dreams come TRUE!

2009-02-05T18:09:00.004-07:00

As you all know this November Kate will be going to Disneyland for THE FIRST TIME! We are so excited for her to experience the magic of the Happiest Place on Earth and so we entered her in the Disney Dreams contest and SHE WON!!! This year the entire park is dedicated to Kate. A local news station ran the report yesterday and I was able to get a copy. Check it out!

(Make sure you MUTE the music at the bottom before you click on Play)

The PiCkLe that lived!

2009-02-02T12:34:00.004-07:00

I'm dedicating this post to Jen Mangum

When I was putting up our Christmas tree, there were a few ornaments that I unfortunately dropped. The first one I dropped was one we got in DiSnEyLaNd. I got sick to my stomach when I saw all the pieces scattered on the floor. You see, most of our Christmas ornaments have some story or memory behind it. When I broke that ornament I thought to myself, "Oh well. I guess I've been doing pretty good if that's the first one I break in 3 years." I cursed myself the second I thought that. The next ornament to go down was this wonderful PiCkLe. I have to admit, I think I said a naughty word under my breath. I was so upset. I thought, of all the ornaments to break, why couldn't it have been the dinky ones I purchased at Target. Why were they the ones that had stories behind it? After that, I was determined to make this pickle last. I picked up all the pieces that I could, and did some intense surgery! There were a few tiny pieces that I couldn't find, but I figured some pickle is better than no pickle. It took me about two hours to put it all together. It was two hours well spent. I saved the pickle! (Well. . . for the most part.)

The story behind the pickle? One fine Saturday morning Ryan and I woke up to a pickle on our car with a note that looked like a four year old wrote. I can't remember what the note said, but I think it was something like, "Here's a pickle to brighten your day". We thought it was pretty gross. We thought it was a neighbor kid trying to be funny. The next day we found out that more pickles had been put on cars through out the extended family. The Mangum's got busted!

Now, this is just the beginning of the pickle story.

Later on Jen, Matt, and Amanda decided to show me the ropes of how you pickle people. We started putting pickles on cars then decided what's the fun in that if you can throw them at people?! Terrible I know. We figured if people are crazy enough to be walking the streets at two in the morning, then they will be crazy enough to enjoy a pickle being thrown at them. (We didn't throw hard!) I thought it was fun until I got a phone call from Ryan at 3 am wondering why I wasn't home yet. I then had to explain myself and that wasn't fun at all. Ryan didn't think there was anything funny about what we had done. Some of you are probably shocked beyond belief that I would do such a thing. Yes, I did do it. I will never do it again, but it's fun to look back at that night and reminisce.

For my birthday later that year, Jen gave me a pickle ornament. When it fell and broke, I couldn't just throw it away. The story behind it is just too funny!

This is a blog post from my Cell phone

2009-01-30T21:06:00.002-07:00

Hi jess and scott

It must run in the family

2009-01-24T15:44:00.008-07:00

Why is it that us Smith chicks wet our pants?!

I must say, I think mine is a lot worse.

You want the true stories? Ok.

Summer's story: It all started in the "Happiest Place On Earth" (which is Disneyland for those of you who don't know. . . And I am disappointed if you didn't know that). We were riding on It's A Small World enjoying each other's company. The ride ended, and Summer got out and strolled about as usual. We noticed something funny about her. She had wet her pants, and not even realized it! Just kidding. Lexi, bless her heart, was sitting on Mom's lap during the ride and apparently had to go to the bathroom so she just went on Mom. Summer didn't feel the wetness seep into her pants. We kindly had to let Summer know that she had "wet her pants!"

Christy's story: Not so funny. My day started out as normal. My friend, Cari came to the house and we did her hair. She was my last one for the day, so we figured we would have fun the rest of the day. We went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. We made plans to go to the mall and get the free make-up Clinique was passing out, then off to the beauty store to pick up some shampoo. While driving, I decided that I was really thirsty and needed a drink of my Dr. Pepper. BAD IDEA!!!!

It all happened so fast. Next thing I know, my drink is in my lap but the cup is still in my hand. The worst part was that I had my phone sitting in my lap. It took a minute for me to figure out what to do. Of all things, guess what I did? Just laughed. I was driving, and there was absolutely nothing I could do. I had no towels, napkins, or anything to soak up the mess, except for my pants! I would have to say that my pants did a pretty good job cleaning up the mess. I had to pull over to inform Cari what had just happened since my phone wasn't working. She didn't realize how bad it was until I got out of the car to show her. She couldn't help but laugh! Her comment was, "I'm not going anywhere with you!" I wouldn't have gone anywhere with myself either. Needless to say, I ruined our fun outing together.

The phone: The phone is in pretty bad shape. It turned on after several hours. But the buttons don't work right. It's a flip phone so you can text on the front, then open it up and there is a keyboard. The front part of the phone works fine. The inside of the phone doesn't work fine. Ill try and open up the menu page, and it tries calling my sister, Kelly. I try texting, and all it will type is numbers. Good thing I have insurance! The thing that stinks is that I just got this phone 3 weeks ago.

Note to self: Don't DRINK and DRIVE!

Dear Summer, Please forgive me for not getting your permission to embarrass you with this photo :)

Cute Moffitt Cousins

2009-01-24T13:14:00.001-07:00

Kate and Morgan were sitting down to watch TV and it was too cute so I snapped a picture.

I am 5 months old today

2009-01-19T18:33:00.009-07:00

I (Kate) had so much fun doing my last post, that I thought I would do another one. I am 5 months old now. A lot has gone on the past month. I had my first Christmas and New Year.

I had rice cereal for the first time.

I have found my voice. I love talking just to hear my voice.

For the past few months my Mom has thought I've been teething but no teeth ever broke through, but now I think I might feel something coming in. The past few night's I've been waking up Mom and Dad a LOT. My Mom looses count after the 5th time I've woken her up. I drool a ton (but I always have). And I'm starting to get a runny nose. We'll see if any teeth break through soon.

I am starting to sit up on my own. I LOVE sitting up. I can see the world from a whole new perspective. I only last on my own for a few seconds though. I realize I'm doing it on my own and get so excited and loose my train of thought, and tumble on over!

I've been to a few weddings. Three to be more precise. They are a lot of fun, but take a lot out of you. I constantly had to be smiley and on my best behavior.

I got in another fender bender with Mom. This one wasn't bad at all though. The guy hit us going maybe 5 mph. (The roads were icy and he tried stopping at the red light, and his car slid.) I only fussed for two seconds before I decided I was ok and played with my toy again.
Here are some pictures of me!

I got my first car! It helps me sit up. It's a lot of fun, but it catches my attention for only a few minutes before I'm ready for a different toy.I had my first Christmas with Mom and Dad. I know I look bored in this picture, but I had just woken up from my nap.
For Christmas I got my first High Chair! I was so excited about this, as you can see in this picture. I knew this meant I was going to be getting more than just milk for my meals.
Here I am with G-G. I love her so much. We had a Christmas Party at her house on Christmas Eve. This was the evening and the place where I rolled from my belly to my back for the first time!

Happy New Year

2009-01-14T15:07:00.006-07:00

For New Years we got together with some good friends, and I must say we had an absolute blast. We paid for it the next day, but it was well worth it!

We began our evening with some fondue. We had a Cheese fondue as the appetizer. Then for the meal we cooked our own meat in a broth, and Angie made her famous stuffed mushrooms. Here is Ryan, Adam, Cherie, Angie, and Lindsey diggin in.

Then came the dessert! We had a chocolate and a caramel fondue with a variety of treats. Strawberries, apples, rice crispy treats, pretzels, Graham crackers, marshmallows, angel food cake, pineapple, oreos, and banana's. Holy cow! I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

Here is Brad, lookin all sexy, and Matt and Addie.

Lindsey and Cassia, Angie and Addy, Cherie and Dani, Kate and I.

All of us just hangin out waiting for midnight to roll around.
We decided to play Loaded Questions to kill some time.

Once it hit midnight, we cleaned up our mess, and I just assumed we were all ready for bed. Oh no! The fun had just begun. We played games until 3:45 in the morning. What we were all thinking is beyond me considering the fact that we all had babies (well besides Brad) that were going to wake up in the morning regardless how late we stayed up. Now I know my family can appreciate this. . . Guess what game kept us up this late?! MAFIA! It was so much fun. There were a few games where the Mafia were that good and won the whole game. ( I would like to think I was Mafia that time, but I honestly can't remember.)
Thanks friends for making this New Year so enjoyable!

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

2009-01-13T20:58:00.006-07:00

I know we are well into January now, but I was looking through our pictures and had some fond memories of our first family "Ugly Sweater Christmas Party" that I had to share. (I know most of you have already seen similar pictures, but just humor me!)
Ryan and I had an absolute BLAST searching for our perfect sweaters for this special occasion. We went to the D.I. and couldn't help but laugh the entire time we were there. What made it even better was when we were standing in line getting ready to pay, and old friend came up to us to say hi and mentioned that he was there to find a sweater for his party. Ryan quickly asked me to show him the sweater and turtleneck he was going to be wearing. As soon as I showed it, you heard this lady behind us ask, "You (pointing at Ryan) are seriously going to wear THAT?!" She thought it was hilarious, and that we were joking. Well, we do have these pictures to prove it.
I must say, I am a little disappointed that Kate didn't make the top five. (Yes, we took a vote. Ryan ranked number 3) It never happens that you want your child to look ugly. I guess there is a first for everything. Now I know Kate isn't wearing a "sweater", but this is the ugliest shirt I have ever seen a baby wear before.
Ryan and I will for sure keep on participating in the Ugly sweater contest. I know my goal for next year is to make it in the top 5! And Ryan would love to stay in the top 5.

Kate loves to hide her Kitty, bottle, and an apple in her pockets!
What makes this picture even better is that Parker and Lindsi went shopping in Mom's closet, and Kelly's sweater shrunk a TON when she washed it.

Our beautiful, I mean ugly sweaters.

The whole fam damly (Yes, that is Russ's belly you see)

Ryan modeling his sweater to make sure it would work for the party.

I now feel like a Mom!

2009-01-12T16:49:00.005-07:00

When your officially a Mom your supposed to do a lot of things. Your supposed to buy a nursing bra, get used to being sleep deprived, deal with blowouts, do 3 loads of laundry per day, and get a Mini Van. . . Right? Well it was that time in our life to upgrade and get a nicer car. The Saturn just wasn't working for us. Ryan and I thought long and hard what type of car we should get. I was really wanting a Honda Pilot, and Ryan wanted a Range Rover Sport. We both agreed that these were both a little impractical. Since we couldn't decide, we went with the most practical vehicle available. The 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan. It only had a couple thousand miles on it. We thoroughly enjoy it. It's too bad though, that when the Saturn was done getting an estimate, we had to return this wonderful car! Yep, that's right. We really didn't purchase this Mini Van! It was our rental :) Gotcha! But mark my word, if I get my way, we will have a new car by the end of the year.

WE HAVE THE MEASLES!

2009-01-11T12:29:00.001-07:00

In primary today for singing time there was a rampant outbreak of the singing measles. The louder you sang, the more you got! Kate was talking so loud she got 3. Two on her cheeks and one on her hand. She is going to be such a good little singer.

Dad dresses Baby Kate

2009-01-10T12:57:00.002-07:00

So today Christy had to do hair and Dad was responsible for taking care of Kate. Usually Dad would just let her hang out in her PJs all day but instead he decided to pick out an outfit. I have to admit dressing up my little girl was a lot more fun than I thought. I went with a yellow jacket over a onesie with levis and a yellow and pink bow. Its all the rage in the Paris fashion district.

GO UTES!

2009-01-02T23:16:00.000-07:00

So today baby Kate got her New Years wish. The Utes went 13-0.

One of our favorite Kate videos

2008-12-21T10:20:00.004-07:00

Here is a video of Kate laughing with her Daddy!

(Make sure you mute the music at the bottom)

I am 4 months old!

2008-12-19T17:59:00.017-07:00

My parents are terrible at this whole blogging thing, so I thought I would take a turn and give all of you an update about me. Today is my four month birthday. Mom and Dad took me to my check-up and the mean nurse gave me three shots in the leg. I was NOT happy with her at all. Mom and Dad reassured me that these shots are good, and I need them. I weighed . . . Drum roll please . . . 16 pounds and 6 ounces. My weight is in the 94 percentile. I am 27 inches long, I know! I'm a tall girl. There is no percentage for my length! I can't remember the measurements for my head but it is in the 36 percentile. I guess there are a lot more babies out there that have bigger heads than me. Dr. Escham told Mom and Dad that she normally likes her patients to wait until they are at least 5 months old before they are introduced to rice cereal but she said I can try it now if I want. They are hoping that by doing that they will be able to trick me into sleeping all night long for Mom. Little do they know that I am the one in charge :)

I am the happiest baby when I first wake up. I'm all about smiles and laughing! Mom and I have a good time. She tries to take lots of pictures of me, but when she gets that weird black thing that flashes in front of me, I focus on that and try to figure out what the heck it is. So mom can rarely get a good picture of me smiling. I am figuring out how to roll onto my stomach from my back, but for the life of me I can't figure out yet how to get back onto my back. I HATE being on my stomach. . . most of the time.

I recently discovered my hands, apparently I've had them the whole time but I think they were hiding. Sometimes I wish this little body of mind came with a owners manual because just when I think I have things figured out I usually end up scratching my nose.

By evening time I am exhausted from playing all day, that I get pretty grumpy before bed time. But I do try to throw in a few smiles and laughs for Dad since I only see him in the evening throughout the week. Saturdays and Sundays are my favorite because I get Mom and Dad all day long! They love to play with me and give me all of the attention.

I got in my first accident on Wednesday. It was the scariest thing that has happened to me. Mom and I were on our way to meet Grandma so they could get some Christmas shopping done. I was sleeping in the back. Mom was driving and the light turned yellow, so she did what all good drivers do and stopped so she wouldn't run a red light. Well we had a brilliant 16 year old driver behind us who was distracted, whether it was her two friends, the music, or her cell phone, who didn't notice the light turn red, so she rear ended us going probably 30 mph. It scared the living day lights out of both of us. I screamed for a good fifteen minutes. Mom lost her hat, and got some pretty good whip lash. When the ambulance arrived they spent a good five minutes just playing with me to make sure I was ok. We are both ok. The accident could have been a lot worse.

I am so excited for my first Christmas. I love staring at our Christmas tree, well any Christmas tree for that matter. I'm still not sure what I think of all that white stuff outside. It looks so cold! I can't wait for Santa to come to my house. I hope he brings me lots of presents. I sat on his lap at Babies R Us and he seems like a pretty nice guy!

Well, I am off to my cousin's birthday party. Here are some pictures of me though!

My Cousin Morgan and I

GO UTES!!!!! Sugar bowl here we come
(not really though)

I'm sick of Mom taking all these pictures of me

Here I am passed out on the couch

Santa and I

Thank you for the memories Grandpa

2008-12-04T22:17:00.011-07:00

The last 24 hours have been very difficult for my family. Wednesday night about 10:45 my cell phone went off while Christy and I were just settling into bed. Anytime your cell phone goes off around 11:00 at night its not a good thing. It was my little brother Jon letting me know that something had happened to my 85 year old Grandpa. He didn't know many details but he said my Dad was already there and that he and my other siblings were getting ready to go over as well. I asked him to call me when he knew something because we had just put Kate to bed and it would take us a little while to pack our little family into the car. While Christy and I were talking I decided to call my Mom and Dad and see if I could learn more. My Mom seemed frustrated when I spoke to her and she asked me if she could call me back in a minute. We interpreted my Mom's frustration to mean that although we didn't know what was going on, things were likely OK. Since Jon seemed to have taken the role of point person I was not surprised that he was the one to call me. His first breath was used to tell me that my dear Grandfather had passed away. I physically felt my lungs contract and my heart take a double beat in that moment. Why wasn't I prepared for this information? It seems like I should have known the very second Jon said my Dad had rushed to my Grandparents house that my Grandfather's passing was imminent. I do not want to go into many details of what occurred over the next few hours except to say that my family spared no time in rallying around my Grandmother to provide comfort and to say our goodbyes. I can't help but think that my Grandfather's passing happened exactly as he had wished. He simply laid down and peacefully passed away. When the paramedics arrived there was really nothing to be done. In my opinion this was the best thing that could have happened. His body was so very tired and I know it was frustrating to him to lose the ability to do so many things that he truly loved. He had lived a full life until it expired.

I have always been so very proud of my Grandfather and I have always been so proud to bear his name as my middle name. I know that he loved me so very much just like he loves all of his Grandkids. I feel so lucky to have been born the oldest Grandchild in the Moffitt family. I have so many amazing memories of my Grandfather that I feel I need to put down before time can rob them from my memory.

My Grandpa has always had a green thumb as long as I can remember. He always had the most beautiful yard and he grew the tastiest Raspberries I think I have ever had. I remember Andy and I weaving through the raspberry bushes finding the perfect ones to eat right off the bush. As I look back now I realize that my Grandmother was growing those Raspberries for her Jam, but Grandpa would still point out some of the riper ones to me without hesitation when Grandma wasn't looking. He treated us so well. I will really miss working in the yard with my Grandpa. When I was young we would go over to his house and work in his yard. He expected perfection and there was never the option of trying to cut corners. I swear even as he grew older he could still out work us kids sometimes simply because he was willing to do what it took to do it right.

My Grandfather has an amazing ability to conceptualize things and then to build them. It was rare that we would come home from my Grandparents house without something my Grandfather had built. I remember him taking wooden dowels and big 2x4's and turning them into little wooden boats for us. I remember sitting in the tub surrounded by tug boats, big shipping boats, and a speed boat all that my Grandpa had made for us.

I remember in the 5th grade my Grandfather helped me with a Science Fair project. My idea was to add turn signals to the back of my bike. It was supposed to just be a silly idea that maybe I would make a poster board about, but I didn't really think I could do it. My Grandpa proved me wrong. By the time we were done we had fit my old mountain bike with a fully functioning set of blinkers. He built a battery pack onto the frame just about where the water bottle would go and a thumb toggle switch up on the handle bars which sent the signal on to a harness that came off the seat post and went out with a blinking red light on each side. As I sat back and looked at how cool my bike had become I began to realize just how incredible by Grandpa really was. That one experience is likely the root cause of my fascination of taking things apart to understand how they work for the next 10 years.

While Christy and I lived in my Grandparents basement I had so many wonderful opportunities to work side by side with him. I cannot count how many times I would get home from Work and Grandpa would be in the yard working on the sprinklers or planting flowers. I was only to happy to put on my work clothes and run around the house while he flipped sprinklers on and off. I remember when he helped me convert and old food storage closet into our clothes closet. He would do all the calculations in his head and write them down for me. Half the time I didn't understand what he intended for me to do, but it worked out better than I could have imagined every time. There were some scary moments as well. When my Grandpa had me pull out his table saw so he could work I got a little nervous. He would move his walker next to the saw and push the boards through. Looking back I was likely more in danger of injuring myself than he was. He was just a natural when it came to working with his hands.

I remember the talks my Grandpa and I would have, especially when I needed some guidance. My Grandpa was a man of quiet dignity. He was the kind of man that did what was right even when he knew no one else was looking. He didn't need the recognition of the world, his self satisfaction was more than enough. He always seemed to have a story or a simply analogy that simplified things and made the chaos of life a little more bearable. He had such a great sense of humor and he was great at seeing the eternal perspective of things.

I really regret that I didn't get him talking about his life until I was an adult myself. My Grandfather did some pretty incredible stuff during his life. It was so interesting to hear about the places he had traveled while he either worked for the Government as an engineer or when he was a young man in WWII. My Grandfather came from very humble beginnings and to hear all that he accomplished was amazing. It always would astound me when he would recall a stories of old friends or people with whom he had worked from 30 years ago with complete clarity. He truly had a very sharp mind. I was so very proud that coming from his rural community in central Utah he was able to graduate from the University of Utah as a Mining engineer. Because of his example most of his sons, and now his Grandson's are going on to graduate from the University of Utah as well.

I truly don't think I could have asked for a getter Grandpa, mentor, and friends in Grandpa Jack.
Here is the link to his Obituary.

http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=120990195

P.S. I'm probably not done with this post but I'm just so very tired after the events of these last few days that I need to go to bed.

Count your many blessings

2008-12-01T15:50:00.005-07:00

I don't mean to get preachy or anything but it all started on Sunday. I was preparing my lesson for my primary class and it was about Ether and the Jaredites. One of the attention activities they suggested was the "Cycle of History" how you start out being righteous so then you receive blessings, then your dealing with prosperity which leads to pride which leads to wickedness. Then your suffering and you realize why your suffering so you humble yourself and repent. It brought to my attention that I need to be better about appreciating all my blessings I have in my life and not take it for granted.

I was in the kitchen today cooking (surprise surprise!) and I was thinking about everything I have in my life that I absolutely love. I love that I have more time in the day to cook yummy meals for my family. I'm trying lots of new recipes and experimenting. I never realized how much I love to cook.

I feel so blessed that I can work from home now and can spend so much more time with Kate. I love that since I am working from home I can control the hours I work 100%. I'm not paying booth rent, so I don't feel like I have to fill up a whole day to make it worth working. I can therefore spend a lot more time with Ryan in the evenings.

I feel blessed to have a roof over my head. I feel blessed I have a great neighborhood. We have the best ward. Everyone is so friendly and it's great.

I feel blessed to have such a great family. Every time Ryan and I are coming home from being with family, whether it's the Moffitt's or Smith's, I always say how much I love our family and how lucky we are that we have such great families and that we all get along so well.

It's pretty obvious but I love Kate so so much. I love her more and more every day. She also is getting happier every day. She cries less and less. I love it! She is now laughing and smiling so much.

Last but definitely not least, I love Ryan. He is the best husband ever. I need to be careful not to take advantage of him because anything I ask him to do he will do it. Anything. He is extremely hard working and is always striving to be better. He treats me so well. I wouldn't change a thing about him.

I could go on and on, but I have a busy evening ahead of me. Thanks for listening to me go on and on. Remember to count your many blessings!

Playing Catch up

2008-11-02T23:00:00.001-07:00

FYI. . . I have done a few posts since it's been a while. A lot has gone on, and I thought it would be easier to post them separately rather than doing one long post. So check them all out.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T22:46:00.002-06:00

Kate's first Halloween. She was Tinkerbell. She didn't love the wings, so they were only on long enough to take some pictures. But doesn't she look so dang cute?

FHE

2008-11-01T22:39:00.005-06:00

Monday night everyone met at Moffitt's house to carve pumpkins. I was so excited to do this because a friend of mine let me copy her pumpkin. It was a football helmet with the U logo on it. I let Ryan do it though, and I did a spider with her web.

Ryan in the process of carving his pumpkin.My pumpkin was hard. I was the last to finish.
Spider web(mine), U of U football helmet(Ryan's), Happy Halloween(Jessica's), Halloween ghoul(Greg's), and Tessa with her fish(Jon's and Scott's)
Look how good they turned out! The hard work paid off.

Happy Birthday Jackson 10/13/08

2008-11-01T22:34:00.005-06:00

It was Jackson's 2nd birthday while Gollhofer's were in town for Kate's blessing. We went to Jungle Jim's to celebrate. We had so much fun. Who would've guessed adults could have just as much fun as the kids?!

Jackson patiently waiting for us to sing to him.

I really wanted to ride this roller coaster, and figured that if the kids were "scared" to go on it, I could be the good aunt and ride with them so they wouldn't be so scared. I can tell you though, one time was more than enough for me. I don't quite have the stomach for roller coasters anymore.
Hey. . . It's his birthday! How can you tell him this isn't how you play this game and he's doing something wrong?

I guess I like Jungle Jim's quite a bit. I used Jackson as an excuse the ride the bumper cars. I think I had more fun than he did.

Kate's Blessing 10/12/08

2008-11-01T22:28:00.006-06:00

We blessed Kate on October 12th. It was such a wonderful day. The only thing that would've made it a better day was if the weather was cooperating so people could hang out outside, and not feel like they had to eat and rush out the door. We had a great turn out and we appreciate all the support and help to make this day so great. Ryan did absolutely amazing. The night before I asked Ryan if he was nervous to bless her, and of course he wasn't. He hadn't even thought about what he was going to say. He said he would just let the spirit guide him. You would've guessed she was the upteenth child he had blessed. He's a natural when it comes to things like this.

Here is Kate and Brewer just hangin out on the big day.
Here's some of the fam Hanging out eating and talking.
Doesn't Parker look so good without his front teeth?!

Happy Birthday Ryan! (9/24/08)

2008-11-01T20:50:00.007-06:00

For Ryan's birthday I surprised him and did dinner and dessert up at our cabin with the fam. He was totally shocked. Earlier that day I had Parker text him saying they were going to the cabin for dinner if we wanted to join them. Ryan called me and asked if I wanted to go. I acted like I didn't really want to go. Once Ryan found out I had not made dinner, he made the decision that we were going up there. I knew if it was his decision he would never guess anything was going on! When we pulled up to the cabin, he saw a white Tahoe and it took him a few seconds to realize that it was his Dad's car, and he had been fooled. We had a great time! We had some of his favorite food. Pizza and Drumsticks. I decided to have a salad there too for the rest of us. (For those of you who don't know Ryan well enough, Salad is NOT in his diet.)

Some of us went outside on the swing

And others played around the workd ping pong

but all of us had drumsticks for dessert!

Including the birthday boy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RY, KATE AND I LOVE YOU

Baby-thon 2008

2008-09-20T17:16:00.007-06:00

As many of you know within about a month of when Kate was born she had two cousins born as well... It was a very very busy month for our family. On September 7th cousin Brewer was blessed and Kate of course attended to show her support. Those two girls are going to be such heart breakers when they get older.

Kate with her Mommy, Cousin Brewer, and Aunt Lindsi

Kate and Brewer dressed up in their Sunday best at Brewer's blessing.

The very next week (September 14th) Kate's cousin Carter was blessed out in Colorado. She talked Mom and Dad into driving her 8 hours so she could attend her handsome cousins blessing. She's such a socialite and wouldn't miss a good party for the world.

Kate and her Cousin Carter holding hands... They were fast friends.

Cousins Hanging out again. Carter is already dreaming of being the starting Quarterback for the Broncos, he's so macho.

We have decided to veto headbands when riding in the car seat as witnessed in the following two photos.

Kate is really starting to develop a cute little personality and unfortunately she almost always gets her way. We are really working on getting her on a good schedule but at times she doesn't feel like cooperating. Those nights we are usually up until around 1:30 or 2:00, but we still have a good time with her.

Christy thinks we need a bigger bed and after looking at this picture I think Kate agrees... Where does Daddy sleep?

Kate is so scandalized by her Daddy.

Dad is quickly learning to Multi-task

Our little family all dressed up for Church

After Carter's blessing in Colorado.

We are happy to be home again after so much time out partying but we are still looking forward to Kate's blessing on October 12th (unless things change). If you want to attend we'd love to see you, feel free to call us and we'll give you all the details.

The first two weeks

2008-09-02T16:42:00.004-06:00

So Kate is actually three weeks old, I finished this post last week and for some silly reason didn't post it. When I have more time I will do another post, but enjoy!

Well today is Kate's two week birthday in exactly 37 minutes. I can't believe its already been two weeks to be honest. Time just flies by when your having fun! Not much is new. We came home from the hospital Thursday August 21st. She had her one week appointment on Monday August 25th and she weighed 7 pounds and 7 ounces. I'm sure she weighs a ton more now, she's getting a little chubby but it's oh so cute! I have been having a hard time just staying at home so on Thursday we went over to Moffitt's and just hung out. We used the stroller for the first time and went for a little walk. I was in heaven! It was so nice to get out. Then Friday we went to my Mom's house and hung out with her and went for another walk. Sunday we went over to Moffitt's house for a BBQ because Aunt Gayle was in town. Our cousin Melissa had her baby in August too so we had fun taking pictures of the two babies.

For Labor Day we went to Moffitt's in the morning for breakfast and then to my family cabin for a bbq. While at the Moffitts our adorable innocent child decided that she had to poo while Aunt Jess was changing her diaper. It was honestly the funniest thing we had all seen. I can't belive our little girl can shoot that far. No girl should be able to have an aim like that! Rather than helping Jess out, we all ran for the cameras.

Kate is such a good baby. She hardly cries, but when she does, boy does she know how to use those lungs. She's good at night. She only wakes up now when she needs to eat. She'll wake up usually every three to five hours. I am absolutely loving being at home with her. It will be so hard when I go back to work and have to leave her behind. I'm supposed to go back to the salon on Fridays, but I don't know if that will really happen now that she's here. I might just work from home and choose my own hours. We'll see when the time gets closer. Well, here are some more pictures of little Kate.

Kate enjoying her swing

Kate and Elliette

Good aim, eh?

Jess and the poo

Kate making a silly face up at the cabin

The Many Faces of Kate

2008-08-26T21:16:00.005-06:00

The majority of these pictures were taken within a 5 min period when she was resting on Ryan's chest. She is such an active baby and we thought you all might enjoy these shots.

Baby Kate is Great!

2008-08-23T17:42:00.013-06:00

As many of you now already know Christy and I are now the proud parents of a Beautiful little girl named Kate Lyn Moffitt, or as I like to call her Kate the Great. I know that as a parent I'm likely a little biased but she is stunningly beautiful and oh so much fun. I'm seriously thinking of asking her pediatrician if she has a chronic case of "cute baby disease" because it seems to be getting worse everyday (read: she is getting cuter by the day). So I'll try to breeze past the boring false alarm stuff and get right to the good stuff. On Thursday the 14th Christy spent the day with her Mom and while they were strolling through Costco she told her Mom that her contractions were getting closer together and starting to hurt, so being the worry-wort that I am I made her to go the hospital that night. The nurse did her thing and announced that Christy hadn't really made too much progress from her previous doctors appointment and was in the process of sending us home when our Doctor (see previous post about Doctor Drama) came in and asked us if we'd like to break Christy's water and get this thing started... We were in SHOCK. Neither of us really expected to go into labor that day, we thought of this visit as a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Anyway Christy decided against having her water broken with the idea that we would be back within a day or so for the real thing. I took Friday off work with the idea that I needed to "be prepared" (I am a scout leader now so what do you expect). Our biggest mistake was telling people that we had gone to the Doctor. All of a sudden every person we knew was calling to find out if we were having our baby. Lesson to others, don't cry "BABY!" until you are admitted to the hospital, you will save a lot of frustration. So nothing happened until Saturday which frustrated me since I had taken Friday off work. On Saturday Christy's contractions were 2 minutes apart and we made the trip to the hospital again. This time we expected to actually stay and we were surprised that her contractions hadn't moved her along very far. When our Dr. came in again we were almost positive that his previous offer to break Christy's water was still good, we were wrong. He was VERY busy and since she wasn't really in "labor" yet they gave Christy a shot to help with the pain and sent us home. The nurse said she'd bet we'd be back in 24 hours so we started scheming again about how we should be back any second for the real thing. So long story short, nothing until Tuesday. On Tuesday Christy wakes up at 6:00 am in pain but when we call the "on call" doctor at the hospital he tells us that the pain Christy is having is her body getting ready for labor and it's not REAL labor yet. With the reassurance of a on call doctor who is probably working the graveyard shift to pay off his student loans I decided to go to work. I was at work for 10 min when Christy calls me and says that she had spoken to her wise older sister who said, "forget the doctor, you're in labor". Sure enough by the time I drove home, picked up Christy, drove to the hospital, and got checked in, Christy was dialated to a 5 and they told us to get comfortable because we were going to have a baby. Well since it was Andy's birthday we had hoped to avoid August 19th, but I guess Baby Kate had a different idea. Christy's epidural came at 12:30 and her water was broken at around 3:00pm with her dilated to an 8. After 2 good hours of pushing (Christy is my Hero) we welcomed Baby Kate into the world at 5:20 pm. She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. Although things didn't go a smoothly as we might have wanted Christy is feeling better every day and Baby Kate couldn't be any more perfect than she already is. We appreciate all the Family and Friends that have called, visited, or simply sent their regards. Sorry we couldn't talk to everyone, we were averaging at least 5 text messages an hour for the first few days and we were both pretty tired. Baby Kate is keeping us up pretty good in the night and we are both pretty tired so I think I'll cut this short for now and skip right to the pictures. Perhaps when we're up to it we'll post a progress report.

Christy getting ready.

Baby Kate fresh out of the oven.

"Mom, you'll never believe the day I've had"

Our little family

Looking especially Cute

She spends at least 90% of her day showing us this face

Dad is only too happy to help with the baby.

How many adults does it take to buckle a newborn?

The dynamic duo... Kate and her cousin Brewer.

Oh and by the way, we finally finished our basement... Here's those pictures. I didn't include any of the 2 bedrooms but just use your imagination and I'm sure you can figure it out.

The downstairs bathroom

The family room and fireplace

Laundry room... ooh look how glamorous.

Shot of Christy's salon.

Recap of July

2008-08-05T11:50:00.008-06:00

Ryan and I decided that it is about time we post on our blog. Although I have a MILLION other things to do ( I honestly feel like I am not exaggerating) I decided to spend the time.

July was a busy yet fun month. I realized this was our last month to take any trips before having a little one around, so we went and spent a day up in Bear Lake and a few days down in Lake Powell. It was so much fun! We are still finishing our basement, but Devin will be done on Friday and we will get carpet installed on Monday. We are both so anxious for it to finish because that means I can FINALLY get Kate's room all ready to go before she comes (hopefully!)

Here are some random pictures for the month of July . . .

Some of the Moffitt Clan up in Heber for the 4th of July.

Ryan, Me and Kate, Kelly, Mom, Jaclyn, and Chelsea in Bear Lake

The two Pregos together.

The little Moffitt family

My friend baby shower. We had so much fun. There are a few who had to leave before we took this picture. Thanks again Toni for making this happen!

The newest addition to our family! Brewer DeMie Smith

Ry and I at Lake Powell. He was being silly.

Ryan in Mid-Air.

Scott in Mid-Air.

Me and Kate. I was 35 1/2 weeks along.

(I am 37 weeks and 3 days now)

The start of our basement!

Another phase of the basement.

The sheet rock is up!

I can't find the other pictures we have of the basement so we I find them I will post them. But it is lookin really good. These pictures are of the family room. We also have a salon, two bedrooms, the bathroom, and laundary room.

Cassia's baby blessing

2008-06-28T16:35:00.002-06:00

Front row: Kate(in the belly), Dani, Cassia(pronounced cash-a), and Addy.
Middle row: Me, Cherie, Lindsey, and Angie.
Back row: Ryan, Adam, Shaun, and Matt.

Shaun and Lindsey came into town to bless their baby. It was so nice to have to gang together again. They are currently living in Portland Oregon while Shaun goes to school. He will be graduating in December. We can't wait for them to move back home.

Last night we got together with everyone and hung out at the Dugdales. It was so fun having all these babies around. After being with all the babies, Ryan and I are even more ready for the baby to come. She is going to have so many friends to play with.

Baby Kate at six months

2008-06-28T16:10:00.002-06:00

These are some of my favorite pictures of the baby, but since they weren't on a disk, I took pictures of the pictures I got. So they aren't the best, but you can still see her!

It's amazing how you can see everything. She is folded in half so that's her knee next to her nose.

My favorite picture by far. At the very end of the ultrasound she decided to smile for us! She is such a happy baby.

This picture was actually when i was 12 weeks along. Her cute little arm and hand. I think she was maybe going for her thumb.

This picture is crazy. You can see her face, rib cage, and once again she is curled up so thats her leg right next to her face and chest.

Quick Update

2008-06-21T10:20:00.004-06:00

So there are a few things that are exciting and I want to share. . .

1. Kelly is pregnant!!!!!! Yeah. We are so happy for her. So that makes 4 of us in the fam. Summer- Due end of July (the 26th?) Lindsi- Due end of July also. I think the 22nd, same as Colter's birthday. Me- Due August 24th (That one I better know) and Kelly- Due February 17th. What a great day! (Thats when Ryan and I met on the love cruise in Jamaica)

2. My good friend Ashley Dale is getting married. She was dating someone for about 8 years, and he just didn't treat her like she deserved to be treated. . . Then low and behold Prince charming came along, Jake, and swept her off her feet! He seems like an amazing guy for Ashley, and treats her like all girls deserve to be treated. They will be married Januray 3rd. We can not wait.

3. Our basement is getting finished right as we speak. Devin who is finishing the basement is working fast. He's been here two and a half days and all the frame work is done, a door ripped down, and some of the plumbing is done. It should be done by July 21st, but the rate he is going, it could be done sooner. We will post pictures later.

4. We are having a baby! Oh wait, you guys already know that.

5. Baby Kate has the hiccups. She's only gotten them a couple times. It's cute when she gets them.

6. My Mom's house is almost ready to be put up for sale. We are waiting on someone to put in new cabinet fronts throughout the house then Parker can put the house up for sale! The house looks so good. If we didn't just buy ours, I would be tempted to buy it. So if anyone is looking to buy, go check it out! It's in a great location.

7. I get to go pull some weeds now! Our backyard needs some serious help. To be honest, I think the weeds are taking up 80% of the backyard, so we got our work cut out for us.

Oh, by the way, for those of you who don't know me well enough, #7 is SO NOT exciting news.

My prego belly

2008-06-16T20:50:00.009-06:00

Sorry for showin some belly. . . this is when I was 3 months along.

Here is my belly towards the end of March. I was about 4 months along.

Here baby Kate is 41/2 months old. (in the belly of course!)

She is just getting so big! I am 6 months along here.

I am almost seven months pregnant now. Come June 24th I will have exactly two more months to go. We are so excited for her to join our little family and wish it would come sooner, however it will be a good thing to have two months to get ready for her because there is still SO MUCH for us to do.

Remember When. . .

2008-06-08T00:01:00.002-06:00

Ryan ate a Salad?Toby went for a swim?
Jon flew in from his mission to attend our wedding?
Bryce got confused and kissed Jason?
Mom made aprons for all the girls on Mother's Day?
Jaclyn forgot to take her medications?
We took a family picture just to remember the plumbers crack?
The girls got a part time job?
Jaclyn ate poop?
Sleeping Beauty was waiting for her prince?
Ryan was in Spaceballs?
Kingston didn't eat wedding rings?
You didn't need a Home Equity Loan to pay for gas?
Bryce and Parker went on a naked ride on New Years?
Christy didn't go to her Husbands graduation from the UofU?
Ryan had to shave because the Utes lost? So Mad.
Jon told us a Joke about Christopher Reeves?
Jon and Scott wished we had paid for a bigger rental car?
Jon ruined our picture with his nipple shot?
The boys borrowed Christmas sweaters from Mom?
Summer wet her pants? Not really though.

Taylor thought she was Randy Jackson?
Jesse and Ryan both had a great hair day?
Morgan decided we should name our baby Boston?
A bird pooped on Scott?

Ryan and Christy got Married this day 3 years ago?

Happy Anniversary!

Are we buying a car or going to the Doctor?

2008-05-30T23:57:00.007-06:00

This last Wednesday we went back to the doctor for our monthly check up and I am happy to report that the bun in the oven is baking just fine... It was a very unusual doctors appointment though. The appointment reminded me a lot of the kind of high pressure salesmanship you seem to only see in the movies with some greasy car salesman who has a handle bar mustache and a bad polyester suit.

For those of you who don't know, Christy's doctor passed away this last month. His passing was sudden and unexpected and our hearts truly go out to his family. Christy heard the news through a woman at work and later that day she called the Doctors office to confirm the bad news. After reaching the receptionist at the Doctor's office, she explained that she had an appointment on the 28th and asked who would be there to take care of her. The receptionist explained that the other Doctors in the office were going to be covering the appointments. They asked her if she had a preference on which Doctor she would like to see, to be honest she didn't care, and replied "whoever is available". They scheduled her with Doctor Smith and we went about the next few weeks without thinking too much of it. When we arrived on the 28th we went through the normal "your pregnant" routine; pee in a cup, stand on a scale, and tell them about the recent gymnastics your baby is performing. After the nurse had put Christy through the routine we were escorted to a waiting room for Dr. Tanner to perform our Ultrasound [for those of you who haven't read all our posts, we have had a terrible time confirming that we are having a girl when we go to the Doctors office. We confirmed it at Fetal Fotos months ago, but our baby is very modest when we are in the Doctor's office, so they gave us a third ultrasound to finally confirm the gender. I had to catch myself a few times to keep from saying "she" or "her" or "Kate" during the appointments]. So after Dr. Tanner told us we were having a girl he asked, "so do you know who you would like to start going to?" Of course we could go with either Dr. Tanner or Dr. Smith, or we could decide to go to a Doctor in a completely different office. Christy remembered that she already had an appointment with Dr. Smith but was trying to be polite and not say anything. While we were walking back towards the front of the office Dr. Tanner accompanied us (he's never done that before) and he said multiple times that he would be happy to take us on as patients. When we arrived at the nurses station he made a big announcement that we needed to figure out which Doctor we were going to see in the future and started shuffling papers matter-of-factly as he repeated that we didn't appear to be signed up under any Doctor and that we really needed to pick one. So there we were standing in front of no less than 6 people who were all staring at us if we were about to perform some magic trick. When we didn't immediately declare our testimony of Dr. Tanner he made some off handed remark that if we needed to fast and pray about it we could wait. As we stood there silent as a mouse he must have become bored with us and he walked away. Immediately after he left one of the nurses we have seen a few times pulled us aside and appologized. I really had felt that he was about to declare that if we signed up with him as our Doctor TODAY, he would throw in a the set of steak knives and a subscription to the Jelly of the month club.

Since Dr. Smith is younger and we plan on having more than 1 kid (unless this first one puts us in a mental institution), we decided to go to Dr. Smith. I'm sure things would have gone fine either way, but after the high pressure sales pitch we received I think I'm even more content with our choice. I really never thought that the Medical profession would ever try to "sell" thier services (especially a OBGYN), but I guess a buck is a buck and he saw it as a golden opportunity to swoop in and pick us off while were were ripe for the picking. This whole experience goes to show that although someone may have a ton of experience and schooling at the end of the day we all put our pants on one leg at a time.

Jon's so observant

2008-05-23T12:45:00.004-06:00

So I'm sure you noticed that I added a baby counter thingie and some music to our Blog, but Jon in his infinite wisdom pointed out that "Widgets" (Jess I still don't know what that means), are not the purpose of a blog but rather a fringe benefit to the page. He's right.

So in honor of Jon's no nonsense way of looking at life, here are the straight forward thoughts and recent happenings in my life...

This weekend I'm painting my Mother in law's house. I hope we can get a lot of people to come and help so it won't take me 2 weeks to complete but I'm trying to maintain low expectations so I can be pleasantly surprised.

Christy's baby is awesome... She moves around a lot but when I talk to her she holds still while she listens, she's such an obedient child.

David Cook won American Idol. At first this bugged me because I liked having a Utah Boy in the finals, but when I really thought about it I think I'd rather listen to the kind of music David Cook will put out. I think David Archuletta should team up with Disney and Josh Groban and make the Ultimate High School Musical Movie.

Christy is kind of disappointed in me right now. I was trying to grow out my hair so I could look like Josh Groban (seriously look at me next to him, we could almost be twins) and I whimped out. It was frustrating having longer hair and it felt like it was starting to get in my face. Maybe I'll buy a wig.

I thought Baptisms for the Dead was this morning so I got up really early and went to the church... No one else was there so I guess I got the weeks mixed up, now I'm really tired.

I've whole-heartedly decided my next car will be a Hybrid, even if gas prices somehow magically come down.

When I was at Lake Powell with my Brother in law Parker (Thanks Parker, I had a lot of fun) everyone had Blackberrys but I didn't have one. It made me want one a little, especially because I think you can get some good games on them and you can use Google to find stuff. They are kind of expensive and I really don't need one, so I won't get one.

Any of the Harry Potter movies now put me to sleep in about 30 seconds. I would always put one on while I fell asleep and I have developed a Pavlovian (sp?) response to them. I hope I never see any of the cast on the street or I'll probably pass out.

My Neighbor cut my front lawn earlier this week... That is such an awesome thing to do, but I haven't seen him outside so I haven't thanked him. I kind of feel weird now because he is probably thinking that I either didn't notice or I don't appreciate it.

My 10 year High School Reunion is coming up in August and I'm feeling a little weird about it recently. I went onto the reunion blog and there are links to other peoples blogs. I ended up bouncing around from Blog to Blog and seeing all these people I used to know really well and I feel dumb because I haven't spoken to many of them since High School. Its also weird to see them with families and responsible adult like lives... I just remember us all being silly kids.

Anyway, I hope Jon likes this post. I tried to keep it as honest and observant as I could in honor of his funny way of looking at life.

Toni Tagged me

2008-05-18T12:34:00.005-06:00

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

Joys

1. My Husband. What would I do without him? He's been in Lake Powell for the past four days, and it's been so hard. This is the first time he has left and gone on vacation without me, and it makes me realize how not fun it is when they leave. I doubt I will take another trip without him.

2. My baby girl. I love her so much, and I haven't even met her.

3. My family. I love the Smith's and Moffitt's. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful family.

(I know these are cliche answers, but it's so true. And sorry Toni, I think these were your answers too)

Fears

1. Losing my baby girl. She moves SO MUCH throughout the day that if there is one day she isn't moving around as much I freak out thinking something is wrong. I know everything will be ok, but you still worry.

2. Losing Ryan. I guess that when you lose a few close family members (Dad, Uncle, and Grandparents on both sides) you can't help but worry about that.

3. Sharks. I would never want to go shark diving. I know your in a cage, but that still just terrifies me.

(Wow these are sad answers. I'm sorry)

Goals

1. Start on the baby's room. . . and finish it by August.

2. Finish the basement by August.

3. Not be such a workaholic. ( I think Ryan would really appreciate this!)

Obsessions/Collections

1. I'm obsessed with hair. I think that's a given. But where ever I am I'm always looking at hair. Sometimes i think, "Oh that's a way cute cut on the that girl", and other times I think "Man she need some serious help. Does she really think that's cute?" Rude, I know. I just can't help it. Unfortunately I've rubbed off on Ryan. He'll sometimes catch bad hair before I do and say, "Want me to give them your card?"

2. I don't really collect anything anymore. But I used to collect pictures frames. And tons of them. We've been helping my Mom clean out her house, and I found two boxes full of my picture frames. Not to mention I already have a few boxes full in our own basement. Ryan just about died when he saw all of them. Don't worry, we're having a garage sale, so Ill hopefully get rid of most of them there!

3. To be honest, I can't think of another one. If I do, Ill change this post.

Random Surprising Facts

1. I'm TERRIFIED of bee's. (Ha ha. . . this is absolutely no surprise to anyone. I'm such a baby when it comes to bee's. I just can't think of anything else to put down)

2. I hate fake nails. I didn't even get them for our wedding. I just hate the way they feel, especially when you take them off, and your real nails feel so weak.

3. I would love to go skydiving one of these days.

OK, here's the dreaded tagged people! Joy Osmond, Lindsey Reynolds, Lori Harper, Natalie Pettit, and Nicole Corpron. Have fun guys!

Our New Template

2008-05-08T16:39:00.003-06:00

So I was really bored of our default template so I took some time and found a different one. I knew you could get custom templates with all kinds of fancy details on them but I had a really hard time finding one that was "plug and play". I didn't want to have to learn website coding and I really didn't want to be forced into shuffling all my stuff around just to make it look good, so I persisted on searching google. Anyway, I found this one... I hope you like it (anythings better than that ugly default template).

If I get ambitious I'll mess around with the other parts as well... Who knows, maybe I'll even add a Widget one of these days.