Halloween Festivities

Our family dinner last night included some fun halloween festivities! My mother-in-law, Shirley, always makes holidays so fun for all of us, and this one was no different! Of course pumpkin carving is one of the traditions, so we did that, and as if that was not enough, she decided to take on cupcake decorating as well! She had all sorts of candy, an assortment of colors of frosting, and different kinds of cupcakes. We had a blast! Thanks Turners for the awesome night! Here's a few (ok, maybe more than a few) pictures...

Ash and Bry

Here's Dals scary face and Trav's batman

Ashlee's yoda and Bry's Buzz

All the adults (minus me...not a huge fan of the pumpkin carving mess) carving away

Even Cole got his hands in there

Here's our cupcake masterpieces! With a closeup of Joss' werewolf...do you think she's an artist?!

Trav and I

After we got done with all the cupcakes, we decided to decorate the children! Jace LOVED it!

Bry gave Cole a sweet goatee

Trav and his mummy cupcake

Dal and Joss concentrating on their works of art

Cute baby Jaiden as Chewbacca

Darth Vadar, Yoda and Chewbacca...My adorable nephews (minus Chance and Logan (niece)...tear...) Seriously, could they be any cuter??

Sunny St. George

Oh, how I love this place. I would move there in a heartbeat. We took a girls trip down there last weekend and let me tell you, it was fabulous! We spent our time getting massages, laying out at the pool, shopping, eating, staying up late, sleeping in and best of all, talking and laughing! We have the best group of friends and I just love these girls!
Some highlights:
*Sleeping in til at least 10
*Not getting ready til the afternoon
*Hours and hours of talking...you'd think we'd run out of things to talk about..Nope.
*Tonii's "sleep talking"..need I say more! :)
*Mary Ann and I trying to go to sleep, but laughing uncontrollably instead! Are we 10?? It was 2:30 in the morning...we'll blame it on that?
*"I think you're hot"
*Having the waiter at Texas Roadhouse try and flirt with us...Hello, one-we're all married, and two-we're all like 10 years older than you!
*Tonii's inspiration to us all :) you all know what I'm talking about!
*Us devouring a WHOLE bag of Mint oreos in ONE night!! And then finding out that Tonii only ate one! We thought she for sure had helped more than that!
*Secrets, Secrets, Secrets...

Kristin, Tonii, Me, Mary Ann and Sue
Us watching a movie...our nightly ritual.
We went to Bear Paw for breakfast on our way out and it was SOO good! This is MaryAnn's french toast monstrosity.
Us waiting at Texas Roadhouse...eating yet again.

Perfect, perfect weekend! Thanks again Sue for getting us there!
(Oh and if you're feeling bad for our husbands...don't! They all hung out together pretty much all weekend and had almost as much fun as us!)

Journal Entry

We had the most wonderful lesson (yes, good enough to blog about :)) in Relief Society on Sunday. The lesson was on Trials: why they come, how we can best get through them, and what to learn from them. Now I, just like everyone else have had at least 18 other lessons like this throughout my church days, but none of them have hit me like this one did. Maybe its the fact that you are more humble when in the midst of a trial (hmmm, aren't we taught this all the time?), but I was a bawling mess during the whole lesson! Luckily I heard a few other sniffles around me, so I didn't feel completely crazy...or maybe everyone had a cold...who knows. Anyway, I kept on thinking "I need to go home and write all these thoughts and feelings down in my journal"...oh wait...I dont' have a journal. So my blog is the next best thing. This will probably just be all mumbled, but I really wanted to write down some of my thoughts so that I can look back and remember them later and refer to them for comfort now.

We all have trials...that much is obvious. Some are small, some are not so much. We have trials to help us grow, I truly believe that. However, sometimes in the middle of it, its hard to have that outlook...its much easier to start to questioning things. So here are some of my thoughts on how to get through trials gracefully.
-My Heavenly Father loves me and is mindful of me. This is the thought/impression that I got over and over during our lesson and the cause of the majority of the tears. Its not like I have been doubting that, or have ever doubted His love for me, but I really needed to know and feel that love on Sunday and I am grateful for His tender mercy in allowing those reassurances to come to me. I need to always remember that no matter what I have to go through, He will always be there to love me and give me comfort.
-Our trials are very much individually, hand crafted just for us. Everyone's trials are different. I hope that I never have to know what it feels like to bury a child or deal with infidelity, but those that have had those trials would look at someone else and think the same thing.."I hope I never have to go through that." Which leads me to my next thought....
-We are strong enough to handle the trials that come to us. Heavenly Father has promised us that He won't give us anything that we can't handle. Sometimes we may question that, but I know that He has the faith in us to be able to endure, its up to us to have that same faith in ourselves. He believes in us and will give us helps along the way (for me...extremely spiritual experience during a RS lesson). Not only are we strong enough from the beginning to face our trials, but we will be stronger for getting through them.
-Trials=learning and growing opportunities. This one I struggle with at times. It is difficult to change your perspective from "Why?" to "What can I learn from this?" After Sunday, I knew that I really needed to focus on being humble enough to learn and grow from this instead of getting frustrated and even angry. We can't change our situations, only our perspective and attitude. I feel so strongly that even though trials are hard and can be extremely trying on our faith and patience, we can use this opportunity to develop Christlike qualities and strengthen our relationship with Him.
So now after re-reading through those things...logically, it seems like trials are a positive thing. Which they are, right?! If only I can permenantly impress this on my brain.

(My next post won't be so serious...I'm off to a St.George weekend getaway with some great girls!!)

Birthday Pics

Me and Kimmy at dinner...yes I am eating chicken fingers AND fries...I splurged, and they were so good...its been way too long!
Our good friend Mary Ann and her son Carter
Me, Jace and baby Jaiden...Jace was so excited to hold him and demanded we take a picture! So cute.
Me blowing out my candles...look at all that smoke!
Kim, Kristen, Me, Nate, Mary Ann, Carter and Max....my awesome friends (minus Matt, who made his appearance later). We missed the Johnsons...our couple foursome just wasn't complete :)

Birthday Fun!

Wow..I am officially a quarter of a century old! Kind of crazy...ok not really, it doesn't feel any different :) This weekend I continued in my birthday celebration festivities starting with Friday (my actual birthday)...Travis had a game that night so I went out to dinner with Kim, one of my best friend's from middle school. Thanks again for coming up Kimmy, it was so good to see you and talk with you! We then went to my parents for round 2 of cake and ice cream and invited some of our friends from our neighborhood over. Unfotunately, the entertainment for the night (and best picture) cannot be mentioned due to some legal formality :) Sorry.

Saturday, we bundled up for the BYU game, which is always a good time, and was surprisingly not as cold as I thought it would be...thank you long johns and under armour. We then met Joss and baby Jaiden at Zupas for some post game grub. Always delicious!

Sunday we had my birthday dinner at the Turners. Yummy food, great family, and homemade ice cream! The highlight of my night: Cole (Yes, I'll admit it...my favorite nephew) FINALLY said my name!! I've only been trying to get him to say it for months! (Jace farting on Joss came in at a close second as far as highlights :) Never a dull moment during Sunday family dinners!!)

Thanks for all my wonderful family and friends for the calls, texts, emails, and of course presents! I am so lucky to be surrounded and loved by so many awesome people!

Weekend Fun

Who doesn't LOVE the weekends?! They are the best! Here are some highlights of ours:

CONFERENCE
I thoroughly enjoyed conference this weekend. And not only because you don't have to go to church (although that is a nice benefit :). I'm not sure why, but this conference I especially loved. I had a greater desire/motivation to listen and to apply the messages; I felt the spirit so stongly on numerous occasions; I felt, more than I have before, that the talks were geared especially for me; and I didn't fall asleep AS MUCH as I have in the past (those afternoon sessions are killer sometimes). What an inspired meeting conference is! What better way to bring members together while teaching and sharing revelations...its awesome.
Anyway, Saturday was a little rough on our puppy. It was raining all day long and we were all cooped up inside, so he had a lot of energy to release on us. He was driving me CRAZY! All he wanted to do was go out and play in the rain (he LOVES water), and by the 10th round of him scratching at the door to be let out and us letting him out, just to bring him back in all wet and dirty, I had had it. So Travis decided to brave the rain and take him on a walk..mind you it is down pouring! Travis put on his rain gear and they left. I was getting ready for the day (yes, this was at 4 pm!) and heard the door bell ring. I opened the door to find Travis and Cooper on the doorstep, both completely drenched and dripping all over the porch! I ran to grab a towel, and on the way grabbed my camera. It was quite the sight. Cooper, of course loved it, so I guess it was worth it (as long as it was Travis out in the rain and not me!)
On Sunday we watched conference with our friends and enjoyed a DELICIOUS fruit crepe breakfast. Then in the afternoon we went to my parents to watch the 2nd session and to do a little early birthday celebration! Lucky me I get to have a birthday week! Here's some pictures...

The picture really doesn't capture how soaked they were.
Here's Coop, our little drowned rat :)

Me and my bros with my birthday cake. Buttermilk pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream! Delicious!!
Travis and the two little boys...not sure why they decided to duck and give peace signs...

These are Cooper's friends that live next door to my parents, JJ and Luke. They are the cutest little puppies and the three of them love to play! JJ and Luke came up on my parents back porch probably 5 different times during the afternoon/night to scratch on the door for us to let Cooper out to play. It was so cute!
....and another drowned rat pic of Coop, I apparently put in on twice. Oops.