Our new addition

Thanks to some friends who were moving this weekend, we were able to get something we thought we'd have to wait years for.

An upright piano! We are very excited to have it, since all we've had up till now is a keyboard.


Will and Kayla are constantly asking us if they can play it. I think piano lessons for Will might be in the near future.

Ode to Bill

With today being Father's Day and since Bill's birthday was this last week, I decided to write a post all about one of the most wonderful men I know. I have a lot of great men in my life - my dad, my father-in-law, my two fantastic grandfathers, 4 awesome brothers-in-law, cousins, uncles, the list goes on and on. But there's one man who tops them all (in my humble opinion). And that would be my husband. Since the moment I met him (remind me sometime to tell you the cheesy line he used), he's made me smile and laugh. He fits all the criteria that I wrote down when I was a teenager of the kind of man I wanted to marry. He makes me feel special, appreciated, and loved. He goes out of his way to take care of me and the kids. He is smarter than a lot of people I know, in many different ways. He is dedicated to his schoolwork and his church callings. He is a worthy priesthood holder who loves the Lord. He is an amazing father who takes time out of his day as much as he can to spend time with each of our kids. He is handsome, kind, loving, funny, forgiving, selfless, honest, and overall just one of the most amazing people I know. I'm grateful that I get the opportunity to be his wife and to spend my life with him. I love you honey!


(Sorry for the random picture, honey. But you look handsome! :-)

Just a taste

For the past few months I've been involved in an Institute choir called Heritage Singers. It's been such a privilege and so much fun for me to be a part of it. Our director is incredibly talented and we've all enjoyed performing and sharing our talents. Recently we had the opportunity to record one of our songs to be part of the BYU Magazine podcast. When I heard the finished product I was blown away by how good we all sounded (it's a lot different only hearing a few voices at a time during rehearsals compared to the whole choir), so I thought I'd share. The song is called "The Road Home." Enjoy!

"Motherhood" comes in all shapes and sizes

I was sitting in sacrament meeting this morning listening to talks about motherhood. Normally when I hear them I'm merely listening and not paying close attention to anything more than 5 feet ahead of me (as happens to most mothers with small children, I'm sure). But today for some reason, I started looking around at all the women in the congregation. And I realized that, mixed in with the women who are in my similar situation - young, just a couple of kids, husbands in school, etc. - there are many other types of women. There are great-grandmothers; first-time grandmothers; divorced, working mothers; grandmothers raising grandchildren; pregnant women; and women who are single with no children. It got me thinking about the word "mother." It doesn't always mean a woman who is married with a bunch of kids. It can mean an aunt or a grandmother who is raising family members, it can mean the bishop's wife who takes care of ward members, it can mean a visiting teacher who goes above and beyond her calling. I heard someone once use the phrase "mother heart." I think all women in some way have a "mother heart". They are naturally nurturing and loving, they care for friends and family, sometimes complete strangers, in numerous ways. There are women who take in foster children, who babysit for friends on a regular basis, who sit with stressed mothers in sacrament meeting. I could go on and on. So this Mother's Day I not only honor my own mother and those in my family and circle of friends, but all women who are mothers-at-heart, who are true examples of what a mother should be. Happy Mother's Day!

Since putting it on my blog makes it official

I don't usually write a post like this, but I needed to have it in writing so that you all can ask me about it and motivate me on the days that I might not want to work on this goal. I have decided to "run" in a 5K. A lot of my friends participated in a marathon on Saturday, plus on "The Biggest Loser" (one of my favorite shows these days) they ran a 5K. So I figured, why not me? I don't know when or where, but I'm determined to do it. I'll keep you posted with details later.

Easily entertained

First of all I apologize that these pictures are not the greatest. With our camera still out of commission, I have to make do with my phone camera. But I had to capture a couple of pictures of Kayla. Recently she's become quite the climber, and has enjoyed playing in some unusual places


Like the inside of her toy box


And on top of the end table between our couches. This one started occurring just in the last couple of days, and I've learned that if I don't watch her like a hawk sometimes, this is where I can usually find her.

The Birthday Girl

Due to recent computer issues this post is about 2 1/2 weeks late, but here it is. Kayla's 1st birthday was March 7th, and we got together with Bobby, Susan and Alice for a fun little party the day before. Thank you so much, Bobby and Susan, for taking some great pictures and videos to make up for our lack of a working camera.




Opening presents - Some great homemade balls from Bobby and Susan, and some stuffed animals and baby doll from Mommy and Daddy and Will.


I love seeing these three together. They have so much fun.


Will and Daddy helping Kayla blow out her candle.




The obligatory "eating the cake" pictures. I was surprised at what a neat eater she was. But she seemed to enjoy her cake.


This is my favorite video from the party. She's very subtle at showing her excitement :-)


It's hard to believe that it's been a whole year since Kayla was born. She is such a sweetheart and a joy to our family. Since I was still in school when Will was this age, I feel like I missed out on certain things, so I have been enjoying seeing Kayla go through all of her milestones. She is such a good-natured, happy girl, and we love her so much.

Lots of Love

When I was in high school our seminary had what was called "Love Week," which usually happened the week of Valentine's Day. We would focus on an aspect of love each day of the week. This last week I decided to do something similar with Will. We started the week off with "Love your family day". Will and I made Valentine pockets for each member of the family, and I came up with the idea of having us write love notes to each other during the week. Then we read them aloud to each other on Valentine's Day.


Later that day we went over to Bobby and Susan's house to have FHE with Susan and Alice (Bobby was in California on business). We had dinner together, then we had a great lesson on feelings, played a fun game, and Will and Alice had fun making silly valentines.




The next two days were "Love your grandparents day" and "Love your cousins day". We made and decorated valentines to send to Will's grandparents, great-grandparents, and cousins. One of these days I'm hoping to branch out and make really crafty valentine's.



Two of the days were supposed to be "Love your friends day" and "Love your teachers day" but we only got as far as making heart-shaped cookies for them (which I took a picture of, but the camera wouldn't let me upload it).

Friday and Saturday Bill and I had our Valentine's Day celebration. On Saturday we all went out to dinner together. As we were leaving there was a guy who was cleaning out a machine at the front of the store that you can get toys out of. He let Will pick out a toy for himself and for Kayla. It was a fun little treat for them and we were grateful to him. Also that day I received a special treat from Bill. The young women of our ward were doing a Valentine fund-raiser for girl's camp. I received a balloon, toffee, cake balls, and a poem with a personal note on the back. Here's a picture of all our treasures.


Sunday was probably my favorite day. The fun started the minute I got up. The night before Bill had gone around the house hiding little love notes for me, and I had fun finding them throughout the day (and I'm still finding some). He hid them in places he knew I would find them, like the bathroom mirror, the computer keyboard, and various other places. He also gave me more chocolate and these pretty flowers


Our Valentine's celebration ended with a yummy dinner made by Bill and a cherry cheesecake that I had made the day before.


It was a wonderful week. Hope everyone had a great Valentine's day too!

Will's Words of Wisdom

Yesterday after church we were waiting to talk to the bishop. While Bill was in talking with him I was sitting in the foyer with Will. We started having a conversation, and some of the things Will was saying were so funny (at least to me) that I had to write them down.

"This is Jesus' chair" - referring to the chair he was sitting on
"The light is his eyes" - He was looking up at the ceiling and he thought some of the lights and tiles looked like a face
"Jesus can eat the church's grapes" - There is a plant next to the chairs that has little green balls that look like grapes
"Daddy needs his scriptures buckled because this is their car" - referring to Bill's scripture case
"Are grandmas dads?"

Putting things into perspective

Yesterday I was talking to someone about how frustrated I get sometimes with Will's behavior. I know that a lot of it is normal for a 4-year-old, but it still stresses me out and makes me mad sometimes. This person I was talking to listened to me for a few minutes, then he told me something that I hadn't really thought for a while. He said that someday Will is going to grow up to be an adult and become something great. He then told me a couple of funny stories he had heard about President Monson when he was a little boy. It made me feel a little bit better to hear that even the prophet of the Church wasn't always on his best behavior as a child. So I'm making a new goal to look at Will not as he is right now but as he could be in the future.