It's all good . . .

Baptism Day

Ever since my sweet Lily was placed in my arms as a newborn, I was overwhelmed with the realization that Kevin and I were responsible to teach this precious girl everything, especially about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is hard to believe that it has been eight years since then, and that today our little girl was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 
Her baptism was part of the Stake Primary Baptism day at the Stake Center.  It was a very nice program, and ran smoothly.  We made sure to get a picture of our family before it began :). 

 
We were very blessed to have Kevin's parents come and visit so they could be here with us.  (My parents are still on a mission and couldn't come, and all of our siblings live too far away.)  Lily loves them very much and was so happy to have them here.

 
One of the really special things about this whole experience, has been the wonderful example Lily has been to her little brother.  Derek has been soaking it all in, and although he had a really hard time being reverent during the program before and after the baptism, it has really impacted him seeing his sister make this big step in her life.  (In fact, he was so excited when he saw the sign on the church, he wanted a picture with it.)

 
And it was so wonderful to see my sweet husband baptize his little girl.  He was so carried away with the emotion of it all that he had a hard time getting the words out during the baptismal prayer.  It was definitely one of those moments I will carry close to my heart.

After the baptism and the confirmation, Lily sang "I am a Child of God," and it was beautiful.  I truly don't see how anyone who heard her singing those words could ever doubt them.  It felt like she was singing her testimony, and it was then that I finally got emotional myself.  What sweet simple faith she has.  I am so grateful she is my daughter.

 PS. After the baptism, we went home and had a little party for her.  Unfortunately, most of our friends were unable to come to the party, and so I had lots of extra food.  It's all good though - we'll eat it :).  And they will all be sorry they couldn't come when they see the cupcakes my friend Beth made for it.  I especially love the lily she put on them in honor of my Lily :).

 
(The chocolate ones had mint frosting and were chocolate filled, and the vanilla had lemon filling.  So delicious!!!)

Birthday Girl - Part 2 - Super Secret Super Spy

Because this year was a pretty exciting year for Lily, turning eight and all, I let her have a friend birthday party.  I don't do these every year, in fact, Lily has only had two other friend parties - one when she was three, and one when she turned six.  And so, needless to say, she was pretty darn excited about it. 

She narrowed it down to either a mad scientist party or a secret agent party, and the secret agent party idea won.  And I am so glad it did, because it was a blast to plan, and the kids had an awesome time.  We mailed out the invitations, which were in code - you had to use a mirror to read it.

 
When the guests arrived, they were met with this sign:

 
Once they came inside, they were immediately put to work gathering their secret agent supplies and making their ID badge.  I took each of their pictures to put on it (They all turned out very much like an ID picture should - looking like a mug shot - nice.).  I also fingerprinted them - for security reasons :).

 
Once they had their ID done, I put a secret identity on each of their backs, and they had to use their detective skills to discover who they were.  Pretty funny to see which kids were very good at deduction.

 
 After they discovered their secret identity, it was time for the Secret Agent Training Course.  I put Kevin - the master - in charge of the obstacle course, and he did not disappoint.  I think it was the kids' favorite part.  (Thank goodness for an unfinished basement to set it up in.)

 
First thing, they had to make it through the field of lasers (red yarn).  They LOVED this part, but not one of them made it all the way through without touching.  They were just trainees after all :).

 
Then it was jumping from star to star without landing on a booby trap.

 
After which, they had to cross the bottomless pit.

 
Once across the pit, they had to hit the target with the Nerf gun, and then they had to climb the stairs and avoid the bombs (balloons) that were coming at them.  It was awesome!

 
Then it was time to solve a case.  The treasure had been stolen, and so I broke them up into two teams to find and decode clues which would lead them to it.  There were secret codes . . .

 
Puzzles . . .

 
Tiny writing that they had to use their magnifying glass to see . . .

 
Another mirrored message, and then the final clue - a riddle and both teams had half of the clue, and so they had to work together to solve it.

 
The treasure was a pinata treaure chest full of candy.  They were pretty excited about that :).

 
Then it was time for cake!  Lily picked a cake shaped like a magnifying glass, which was super easy and cute.

 
And then present time!!  She got a lot of cute stuff, but her favorite was a Rapunzel Barbie.  I don't think she has stopped combing her hair in two days :). 

 
But the best part was getting to have a great time with her friends.  And even with a few of her friends not being able to come (May is a crazy busy month), she still had a fantastic time and had six wonderful kids be there to celebrate with her.   Happy Birthday Lily!

  

Goodbye to Preschool

 
Derek's last day of preschool was on Wednesday, which was quite bittersweet.  It is very exciting to see your kids grow up and develop, but it is also sad to say goodbye to the special time in their lives when they are little.  They grow up too fast!

Derek was especially excited for his last day, because they had a Beach Party, and although the weather wasn't good enough to have it outside, the kids didn't even notice.  (Kevin got to come with me to the party, but on our way there, we got a call that Lily had a fever and needed to go home.  So he chose to take her home, but Derek was overjoyed to have him there, even if it was only a few minutes.)

They had beach bowling, face painting, water games, and beach ball toss.  Derek loved it all :).

 
Here he is with his best friend, MacKenzie - they are so cute together!

 
Derek has really loved being in preschool, and I will be forever grateful that things fell into place like they did to get him in back in September.  It has been such a wonderful experience for him, and his teacher, Miss Diane, was FANTASTIC!  I know that Derek will really miss her, but luckily, the kindergarten classrooms are right by the preschool room, and so he can stop by next year and say hi :).

 

Introducing Benjamin Franklin

 
For the past month, Lily has been researching Benjamin Franklin for school.  She made time-lines, typed a report, etc. 

 
The icing on the cake was the "Wax Museum" that the second graders put on.  Kevin helped her get her awesome Benjamin Franklin costume together - he is the Costume King.

Lily just ate it all up - she is my drama queen, and the chance to go to school in costume was a dream come true.  Plus, she got to be one of the greatest inventors ever, which pretty much makes him her hero.

 
The Wax Museum was pretty fun to visit.  All the kids were dressed up like their important person, and you would walk up to them and tap them on their hand, which would bring them to life.  Lily wrote out the cutest little script for her person, but when the day of the wax museum came, she was getting a cold and was losing her voice.  (I personally refilled her water bottle 3 times in the 20 minutes I was there.) 

She still did a great job, and here is the video of it, if you want to watch.  Sorry it was really loud in the background - it was a room full of 2nd graders all talking at once.

Birthday Girl - Part 1

As I said in my previous post, Lily turned 8 on Tuesday.  I wanted to try and make it a special day for her, especially because I know how little things mean an awful lot to Lily.  Because of this, I woke up early and decorated her bedroom door with streamers.  You would have thought she had won the lottery, she was so excited about it :).

 
And I made her German pancakes for breakfast - her favorite - and it was all sitting and waiting for her when she came downstairs.  I even picked one of my daffodils and put it in a vase for a decoration.  She told me that she felt like a queen :).  Totally more than worth the effort.

 
(At school, she also had the excitement of the second grade wax museum, but that deserves its own post.)

That evening, it just happened to be the monthly school fundraiser night at Culver's, and so she decided that was what she wanted for her birthday dinner.  She loved it!  Afterward, we came home for cake and presents.

 
We only had cupcakes, since her real cake was going to be at her friends party.  (My friend Anne made them, and they were divine.)

She loved all her presents, even if all the boxes were "small" - something that she commented on when she saw her pile of gifts.  I thought it was hilarious that her very favorite thing, an "I am a Child of God" locket, was the smallest gift she was given. 

 
She also LOVED her new beautiful scriptures and scripture case.  And she has already watched her "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" movie twice and listens to the soundtrack every night as she is going to bed.  I think she was pretty happy with everything :).

And so she is eight!  Now she is on her way to nine, and it will just keep going from there.  I am so glad she had such a special birthday though - she definitely deserved it :).

It's Great to Be 8

 
Today my sweetheart Lily turns eight years old.  It is hard to believe that so much time has gone by.  

Didn't we just take her home from the hospital in Payson? 

 
Or weren't we just taking her to the beach for the very first time?

 
Or wasn't she just learning how to walk?

 
Wasn't she just finally getting her teeth at 18 months, after we worried for months she was never going to get them?

 
Or wasn't she just becoming a big sister?

 
Or how about starting preschool?

 
Or kindergarten?

 
Or so many other things?? 

 
And now, she is eight years old.  She will be baptized next Saturday and become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I am so proud of her desire to be baptized, and I love seeing the sweet testimony of the gospel she carries in her heart.

 
Last night Kevin and I were talking, and we realized that because she has grown up into such an amazing girl, we must have done something right along the way.  And then he turned to me and said, "Let's just hope we can survive the next eight years."  So true :). 

But truthfully, I have faith that as long as Lily stays on the path she has chosen for herself, we may have normal teenager drama to deal with, but she will always stay strong in the gospel.  And no matter how old she gets, she will always be our little girl.

 
 

Rocky Mountain High

I know, I know.  But I have not been able to get John Denver songs out of my head ever since I found out we were going to spend the weekend in Aspen.

 
Last night we got home from a wonderful weekend in Aspen, Colorado.  We got to go there for a Marriage Retreat for the Kevin's battalion.  They paid for the hotel and our meals, as well as providing child care for the different presentations by the chaplain, along with babysitting so we could go on a date.  All we had to do was get there, and even though the 5 hour drive through the mountains was a little harrowing, it was well worth it,

We stayed at a beautiful resort called Aspen Meadows, and our room was huge.  In fact, it was almost like two separate rooms - one for us, and one for the kids.  It had amazing views out both sides of the room, and I loved that we could hear the river right outside out window.

 
Aside from the sessions with the Chaplain (where the kids were literally overjoyed to go to childcare - so funny), we had a lot of free time to spend as a family.  For part of the time, we took the resort shuttle into town, and wandered around.  Our main reason for going there was to get the kids McDonald's for lunch, as they were less than enthusiastic about the weird sandwiches in the box lunches we were given.

 
After their lunch, we discovered a really cool park that was more like a mini-climbing adventure park.  The kids loved it, although the rope bridge made them a little nervous.

 
As scared as he was with the rope bridge, Derek certainly wasn't afraid of jumping from the ten foot rock into his daddy's arms.

 
They had other cool things there, like these spinning things.

I think their favorite part was the cool hammock though.  They hopped on with two kids they didn't know and went for a ride :).


It was so nice out, we decided to walk home, instead of calling the shuttle. 

 
The walk was beautiful.  There were spring flowers peaking out everywhere, and the mountains surrounding us were still covered by snow.  I wish I had gotten some good shots to capture it.  I did get this one of the cute little grape Hyacinths lining a fence.

 
However, long before our walk home was over, the weather changed drastically, as it tends to do in the mountains.  The sun disappeared, and soon we were being pelted with cold rain.  None of us even had a jacket on us.  Then the rain turned to hail, and so we began trying to jog the rest of the way, but the kids were getting pretty miserable.  Right about then, a good Samaritan saw us and gave us a ride back to our hotel, as funnily enough, she was on her way there to pick up her mother who had been caught in the storm while out running.

Once we got back to the hotel, we decided to warm up and take it easy.  I popped some popcorn, the kids got settled with a movie, and then Kevin and I watched episodes of "Arrested Development." (So funny, by the way.)

 
We did try to go swimming once the storm cleared up, but we were only there for about ten minutes when it started raining again.  We got in the hot tub for a little while, and then decided to go back to our room.  That evening the kids got to go to childcare once more, while Kevin and I got to go out on a date.  We went to dinner with our friends, the Cooks, and then just enjoyed having time to ourselves.

On Sunday morning, instead of going to the Chaplain's service, we found the Aspen Branch and attended church there.  It was great, and although the 30 or so people there was a far cry from the 500+ we have in our ward, it was wonderful to show our kids that the church is the same where ever you are.

After that, we checked out and began our long trek back through the mountains to our home - so not a fun drive.  It was such a wonderful weekend though, and I am so grateful that the Army does things like this, as it really does help strengthen marriages and families.  I know we loved it :).

Bits and Pieces of Life

We had a very busy week last week, and so I thought I would just post about the random bits and pieces of it.  For instance . . .

Hiding From the Wampa

 
On May 4th, in honor of "May the 4th Be with You" day and our anniversary, we watched "The Empire Strikes Back" with the kids.  We had to snap a picture of them when they both decided that they needed to hide from the Wampa.  It was so funny :).

Kindergarten Screening

Derek had his preschool screening the other day, and he did fantastic.  I was really proud of him.  It did hit me, however, how truly grown up my little boy is getting.  I guess neither of my kids are going to stay little.

Stake Temple Night

For the third month in a row, Kevin and I were able to attend the temple, mostly thanks to an awesome young woman in our ward who volunteered to babysit for free so we could go on the Stake Temple night.  So, last Friday night, Kevin and I got to go to the Denver Temple and have that special time together there. 

Kentucky Derby Party

 
Last Saturday, we were invited to a Kentucky Derby party of the home of Derek's favorite person ever, a girl from his preschool class named MacKenzie.  He was so excited to get to go to her house to play, and we all had a great time.  The kids spent most of the time running around, though they did stop to paint some horses.  The best part, was when we chose our horses to win, and Lily picked the long shot - Animal Kingdom.  Well, guess who won? Animal Kingdom!  That girl is awesome!

Mother's Day

 
Although Mother's Day was somewhat tainted by the Laker's losing, other than that black cloud around our house, it was a great day.  Kevin and the kids woke up early and made me yummy breakfast muffins :).  Church was fantastic, and I loved getting to see Lily and Derek sing a song about mothers with the rest of the primary children. 

And other than my homemade gifts from  the kids, I also got three beautiful rose bushes for our front yard.  They are gorgeous and smell fantastic.  We went to the nursery and picked them out last Saturday, and I happily planted them in the empty holes I had the landscapers dig for me last month.

 
Photo Field-trip

I love to teach - it is sort of ingrained in me, and when my friends Judi and Joan asked if I would teach them how to use their DSLR's, I jumped at the chance to go on a photo field trip.  So, on Tuesday afternoon, the three of us went out to play.  Sadly, everything is still rather dead, and so there weren't many flowers to photograph, but there was some beautiful scenery.

 
Eventually we came back to my house and took pictures of my new roses, so they could practice using a small depth of field.  Then I taught them about shutter-speed, but since we had no rivers or pretty fountains, I got out my garden hose and had them take pictures of the water coming out of it.  Oh, and I had to snap a picture of Judi too.  It was a blast!

 
Relief Society Activity

On Thursday, we had the best RS activity (as usual).  This one had the theme "Care of Bein'" and everything we did was to help us to be more healthy - physically, mentally and spiritually.  My favorite part was the drum therapy session.  It may sound a little out there, but it was awesome, and afterward I felt relaxed and rejuvenated.  I also loved all the laughing we did that night - it is definitely the very best medicine :).

A Surprise Getaway

*Let me just preface this story with the fact that our family (along with most of the people we know) had been hit with a stomach bug.  Derek was sick late Friday night (1 am), and both Lily and I were hit on Sunday night.  Luckily the kids only threw up once, and then were fine, although a little weak.  I, on the other hand, was violently ill for almost a full 24 hours. 

And so, on Monday evening, when I couldn't move and still felt awful, Kevin had to spill the beans that he had planned on taking me away for the night on Tuesday.  Would I be better?  Well, let's just say, that I willed myself to get better.  By Tuesday afternoon, when it was time to leave, I was still a tad weak, but doing much better.  I was good to go.  Unfortunately, this bug must be fast, because even though Kevin had only been home for two days, when we left for the hotel, he was just beginning to feel sick . . .

Wednesday was our 10th wedding anniversary, and Kevin had been planning something for it for over a month.  This was amazing, especially because Kevin hates planning things - he won't even pick where we eat on a date.  But for the past month, he let me know that he was in charge of our celebration this year, and that he had everything taken care of.  I had no idea what he was planning, but I was excited.

He surprised me with a over-night getaway, but wouldn't tell me where.  I packed, we took the kids to our neighbors, the Cooks, (Who were pretty awesome at keeping secrets too, since they had known for a month what he was planning.), and we were on our way. 

We drove through Colorado Springs toward the mountains, when we finally pulled up in front of the most amazing resort in the area.  Yes, Kevin took me to the Broadmoor.   Wow!  We have been lucky enough to stay at a few pretty amazing places during our marriage, like the Hotel Del Coronado on our honeymoon, and this one was right up there on the list. 

 
*picture courtesy of the Broadmoor website

It was gorgeous.  I so wish I had brought my camera, but Kevin's phone had to do.  When we checked in, we were upgraded to a tower room with a balcony, and it was amazing. 

 
The view from our balcony was unbelievable.  We could see the whole resort, as well as most of the championship golf course. This is only one of the many views we had.

 
And just so you know we really were there, here is one with me in it :).

 Kevin was quite tempted by the golf course and the gorgeous weather we had, but that wasn't in the cards.  I also loved the bathroom in our room, with the huge sunken tub and another gorgeous view out of its window.

 
And yes, there was a TV in the bathroom.  Pretty fun :).  Once we were settled in our room, we went to one of the many amazing restaurants there, The Tavern, for dinner.  By this time, Kevin wasn't feeling very well, and so while I ordered steak, he had a plate of asparagus.

 
Two bites into dinner, Kevin looked at me and said that he had to leave.  He walked away and I waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally he came back and told me about what kept him.  I knew it was bad when he prefaced it with, "You know I don't embarrass easily . . ." 

Long story short, he threw up ALL OVER the hall in the Broadmoor!!  And the bathroom as well.  Poor Kevin, and poor guy who had to clean it off of their very fancy carpet.  Oops.  I am grateful that it didn't happen when I was standing next to him.  And hey, it gave us something to remember and laugh about for days :).

He felt a little better, and so we checked out the pool and hot tub, and we had it all to ourselves to watch the sunset over the mountains.  When we got back to our room, turn down service had come by, and there were chocolates on our pillows, robes out and music playing.  Awesome :).

 
The next morning, Kevin was still feeling pretty bad, and so we got room service for breakfast.  Once again, mine is the big plate of food :).  It was delicious!

 
After breakfast, Kevin went back to bed sick, and I sat and read on our balcony.  Even though it wasn't exactly how he had planned things, it was wonderfully relaxing.  And since I still wasn't 100 percent, it was nice to take it easy.  I am so grateful to my awesome husband for planning this get away for us.  It was the perfect way to celebrate 10 amazing years together :).

10 Amazing Years

I have always loved our story.  Seventeen and a half years ago I met you.  You were the quiet kid who sat behind me in Consumer Economics (who knew all the right answers), and I was the shy new girl from Nevada.  How could we have ever known that we would not only become best friends, but that we would get married and build an amazing life together?

After three years of high school together, we had made some great memories, and although I may have written in my journal a few times how much I "hated" you because of all your teasing, we became pretty good friends.  And graduation would have never been the same if I hadn't been sitting next to you - you definitely entertained me :).

 
You even took me out to eat a few times our freshman year at BYU, so I wouldn't starve :).  And we kept in touch over the years - I still have all the funny letters you wrote me on your mission.

And I remember our first "date," about 7 years after we met.  I remember not even thinking of it as a date - I was just going over to hang out with an old friend whom I hadn't seen in a while.  By the end of the night, we were holding hands, and I wondered how I never saw it before?  How did I miss how right it felt to be with you?

From then on, we were always together.

 
After four months of dating, and five very long months of being engaged, we were married, sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on May 4, 2001.  And it was then that our adventures really began.

 
(And yes, this is scanned.  All of the above pictures were scanned in.  We are old - they were taken with film.)

After ten years of ups, downs, struggles, and triumphs, I feel closer to you and more in love with you than I ever thought possible.  Between having our two children, your almost 8 years serving in the Army (and all the separation that came with it), moving nine times, living in six different states, the adventures have never ceased.  And when times were hard, you were always there to help comfort me or just make me laugh.

 
I am truly grateful for you.  You are a wonderful husband, an amazing dad, and my best friend in the world.  I love you more!