Spring will always come...

I found myself sitting on my porch a few weeks ago enjoying the first rays of sunshine that come with early spring. I was looking over the beautiful valley and appreciating all that I missed as I hibernated indoors for the long winter months. "What a beautiful place I live in," I thought to myself. "In just a matter of weeks this valley with be alive with all varieties of vegetation."

I have a wonderfully big maple tree in my front yard that, which, for the past several months has been a lone trunk with several twiggy branches. However, as I looked the tree over on that morning...I noticed that it was no longer a bare tree of twigs... New buds were sprouting all over. I sighed deeply and thought to myself, "no matter how long and difficult the winter is, spring will inevitably come."

Since that morning, I've reflected on a moving passage of scripture that has meant a lot to me during the trying winters of my life that I have had to pass through...

Doctrine & Covenants

Section 122 vs 5-9

(Section 122 of D&C is a passage written to Joseph Smith from the Lord as he was suffering in the Liberty Jail)

5If thou art called to pass through ^atribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in ^bperils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;

6If thou art ^aaccused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? and if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to ^bprison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like ^cwolves for the blood of the lamb;

7And if thou shouldst be cast into the ^apit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the ^bdeep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to ^chedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of ^dhell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee ^eexperience, and shall be for thy good.

8The ^aSon of Man hath ^bdescended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

9Therefore, ^ahold on thy way, and the priesthood shall ^bremain with thee; for their ^cbounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy ^ddays are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, ^efear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

Thank goodness none of us has to walk through our difficult winters alone. I will be forever grateful that He has descended below all things and is wise enough to know what will refine my soul and perfect my faith. I'm also grateful to watch the world around me begin the cycle of renewal, and for the reminder that regardless of how harsh the winter may be... Spring will always come...

There is Beauty ALL Around

(I will soon update the date of this post to be the fall...hehehe...just in the process of updating. Today I added the posts from "first day of school" until now)

Today Kaitlyn was my sidekick in capturing some of the BEAUTY of the Cache Valley Autumn. I am blown away each year as the transformation begins. Just when I'm sure the trees and bushes cannot bear any more weight...their leaves change and the world is preparing for a new beginning. It's very awe-inspiring.

I feel lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

These are just of the FEW of the places that are close to our home that caught my eye. It's fun viewing your surroundings when thinking of a beautiful photo. I recommend it to everyone. You'll end up having a new outlook of appreciation for the beauty that is all around...

October is confused...

So...one day we're like this:

In OCTOBER in CACHE VALLY!! Hello...it was crazy! Picnicking outside for every meal...swimming in the little pool and slip 'n sliding.

Sean and I even got some hoops in. Which I'm pretty sure I schooled him at PIG....sucker. ;0) hehehe... But, life was good! WARM sunshine during the day and cool evenings. Just PERFECT!!!

And then within just a FEW days....we're like this:

BRRRRRRR!!!!! We are SUPER bundled any time outside and FROZEN!!! Sam's class went to the pumpkin walk...which was really really fun. They were all really silly and humored me with their goofiest face for their picture. :0) It's a really cute class. :0)

Anyway...good bye sunshine. :0( You will be greatly missed. :0(

I expect you back promply in the spring!!!

Happy Fall!

It's officially fall and perfect weather here in Cache Valley! I have talked about wanting some straw bails for our front porch for a few years....and today...Sean showed up with them for me. Fun!! My porch is a fun place for decorating. We have all been out enjoying the weather and the kids couldn't resist climbing on the fun bails.

Thank you Sean for humoring me in my need to decorate and giving us another reason to get together and take a picture. :0)

"Buzzing with life"

It's early fall and when I walked out onto my porch today...my garden was bustling with life. Bee's and butterflies flocking to our flowers... There was a slight breeze today and the sun was shining...just beautiful. We have loved working on our garden. This year we planted a variety of daisies, snap dragons, zinnia's, petunia's, phlox's and other's that I'm not sure what they're called. We also added a few perennial bushes, some boxwood's and black lace, that we hope will grow and fill in nicely.

I have to say that these purple daisies were my FAVORITE this year. :0) I'm excited to try dead-heading a few of the things we had this year. I'm am most definitely a novice gardener. But, I have really enjoyed the learning process.

Sept - First day of school!

First day of school!!! They are both sooo very cute and excited for school! They are stoked that their backpacks even have drink holders!! hehehe... I can hardly believe that Sam's already in Kindergarten....time goes by WAY to fast!!

Samantha's teacher this year is Ms. Renee, and we have heard nothing but FABULOUS things about her. Samantha is already reading (thanks to Grandma) so I'm sure she's going to do just fine. Sam said that her chair is at table 1, and she sits with Tessa, Shaylee, Gracie and Zachary. I'm volunteering in her classroom once a week. It'll be really cool to be able to meet her new classmates and potential friends.

Today is Kaity's first day of any school!! She starts preschool at the Sports Academy. Samantha went there 2 years ago, and we loved them. As part of her school, she gets to have swimming lessons on monday, gymnastics (or as Kaity calls is - gymnasterbats....soooo adorable) on wednesdays and alternates between dance and tennis on fridays. She'll get to try a lot of things...plus the preschool part of the program is fantastic. And she's excited that she met a new friend on her first day...Bergan Billings. Isn't everything is better with a friend...

Sisters...I hope that they are always this close...or closer...

Fun birthday cakes '09

Kaity turned 3 Aug 13, 2009. It's been almost a year already, but I thought this picture was too sweet to not post. :0) Her cake was really fun to make and she loved the fruit by the foot ribbon....almost as much as she loved playing with her cousins and family at her party. :0)

Tawnya really outdid herself (well, ok...all of us...) with the perfectly sphere baseball cake. And the field to go with it....sand, bases, backstop and even the foul posts. My favorite is the white chalk lines are there too. :0) She's amazing.

Blogging? What's that?

Well...it's been about a year since I've updated by blog. Pathetic... I'm just taking a quick poll to see if it's worth updating. So...what do you think? Do you write for people to read and comment or do you write for you own benefit? Is it worth my own personal satisfaction to update?

Just thought I'd send that thought into space and see if there are still other more dedicated bloggers out there...while I deliberate...

Feb & March 2010

February was a month filled with home projects. We first finished the salon in the basement. I really love it!! Sean laid the wood floors, molding, light fixtures...and I painted and painted and painted... Shortly after we finished the bare-bones of the job then we got the furniture, sink and mirror all put in. I really love the way it turned out.

Then since that wasn't enough to do...hehe... Sean also laid the floors in the laundry room and the bathroom with all the molding everywhere.

And then we lucked out and got the chance to put carpet in the rest of the basement. So...I had the bright idea to glaze all of our walls before we had the carpet installed. ;0) I thought it wouldn't be all that bad...plus I didn't want a bit of paint needed after the carpet was installed. Makes sense, right?? Well.....it was CRAZY HARD!!! hahaha... I quickly had to recruit everyone to help me get it finished. But, I love the way it turned out. Thanks everyone!!! Here's good before and after wall to see the difference...

Jan 2010

I was lucky enough to go back to my home away from home and visit my SWEET friends in AZ in January. I had SOOO much fun!! I got to bunk down at Susan's and do some fun haircuts. I also stayed out in the boonies (hehe) with Ash and her fam. I got to have way better than just a girls night.... It was like girls WEEK! I LOVED it and seriously can't wait to get back down there. :0)

I also decided we needed to have FUN with the winter months! So, we got some extra water bottles and filled them with water and food coloring and sprayed fun designs on the ground. It was really fun! And the girls had a blast. :0) I highly recommend it to break up the cabin fever!

Welcome Fall...

I can't believe how time flies...

I've been completely detached from my blogging world. :0/ But, I'm back

and I'll be updating over the next little bit. :0)

We have had a wonderful summer. And now fall is here. This morning I opened my windows to crisp, fresh air....admittedly, one of my favorite things.....(sigh...) :0) Welcome back fall.

Summertime in Bear Lake

We have had a lot of fun over at Bear Lake this year with the fam and a lot of time at the beach. My kids and Tawnya's kids are pretty much inseparable...kinda like me and Tawnya. ;0)

This summer I also started dabbling in photography.

I've really had a lot of fun with it. Plus, my kids are the perfect muse. :0) My goal for this next year is to actually have Sean and I in

at least a few of the photos. hehe

Family Campout July 09 (hehe...I'll get caught up eventually) :0)

We found the greatest campsite up Logan canyon this summer. The road was a bit sketchy in several places, but it helped to hold my breath and close my eyes and imagine us on a paved highway somewhere...haha. BUT, once we got there it was well worth it! We had a great spot for all of our huge tents, Dad's camper all our vehicles, 3-4 wheelers and all our junk. It was quite the procession. :0)

Right when we got there, the guys went out to gather some fire wood. And they came back with an entire tree! hahaha....seriously... You can see the pile of firewood behind Mason in his football picture. It was impressive. Especially since we were staying there for an entire day and night. ;0)

The site also had great places to climb and explore. Just a short 4 wheeler ride to fun fishing. We had lots of delicious food and chats by the fire. Mom got to study her map of the world...memorizing every country. :0) The kids and Zoe had a great time too. Even though we used up 2 canisters of mosquitoes spray in the first 2 hours, it was really a GREAT time!! And I can't wait to go again this year...despite my new crazy fear of Bears that my family loves so much. hehe

"Zoo Am-mi-mals"

Perfect weather, all the animals out for us to see, happy children and great company...what more could you want on a summer day?! :0) We all had such a great time!! We saw pretty much all the animals and fun lunch in the shade. Samantha was our tour guide. She helped us find our way all day by reading the map. Jentry found a tiny little green caterpillar and let it crawl on her hand, she was equally grossed out and proud. haha Mason and Kaity were always a step ahead of us...anxious to see what was next. And luckily, there were as many adults as there were kids, so we all had a great time. haha

The carousel was a first my most of the kids. Samantha rode on a Zebra - her first choice and favorite animal of the day. Brinley rode next to Sam on an ant eater....hahaha, cool, huh. :0) Kaitlyn mustered up every ounce of bravery, and with Lydia's help, she rode on a penquin. Wahoo!! She even managed to wave with one hand for a sec. :0) Tawnya helped Mason ride a wolf. He really had a lot of fun even though his face looks a bit stressed...haha. Jentry rode on a sea lion (I think). And Drew and Lori had a sweet ride in the bench. Wahoo!! :0)

The last thing we did was ride on the train. Samantha was talking about it all day, and was really excited to ride, but when we got there she said, "Mom! It's a real train!! I can NOT BELIEVE IT!! I thought it was just going to be a toy train!!" haha It was soooo fun for the kids. Kaitlyn was super tense, but let herself have a great time.

The girls had such a great day. They were asleep withing minutes of being in the car. That's always a good sign. :0) All in all...great day, good times, and can't wait to go again. :0)