Family Pictures

We got family pictures taken with the Turners a couple weeks ago. I think they turned out really good! A family friend of theirs took them at Gardner Village and she did awesome! So here's some of my favorites....

The whole bunch
Ryan, Marissa, Chance and Logan
Bryan, Ashlee, Jace and Cole....if you only could have seen this kid during this shoot...dancing and singing all over the place...finally we got him to smile "normal" in a couple! He's so stinkin cute!
Dallin, Joslyn and soon to be baby Jayden

Crazy sibling picture

Finally....

It only took me about 8 months, but I finally painted my kitchen! I have been wanting to do it for awhile now, and I even got the paint (yes, this was 8 months ago) but I just haven't found the time to sit down and do it. I decided this was pathetic and I just needed to set a time and get it done, so on Wednesday I left work early and my mom came and helped me! It turned out SO good and I love it! It's amazing what a little (ok in this case, a lot) color can do for a room! The only problem is now I totally have a bug in me to do all the other little projects I have in my head to finish decorating my house....one thing at a time right?! I was so glad to have my mom there willing and able to help! She's awesome and is very particular/anal about painting so we worked perfect together!
So here it is...I haven't put up anything back up on the walls yet...I'm still waiting for the paint to dry all the way. And I had to get rid of my table runner...it was a little bit different red and clashed. So I need to find another. I'm thinking of finding some fabric and doing a valance for the windows and a table runner, we'll see.

Girls Trip to Cali!

I just got back from a wonderful weekend in California with my mom and my sister! We had such a fun weekend, and let me just say that I so needed this! Work has been really stressful lately and I just needed to get away for a bit. This was the first time that I have been away from Travis and I'm not going to lie...I really missed him. I know lots of people have to go longer amounts of time and more frequently with out their husbands, but I am SO glad I don't! It felt weird to have him not there all the time...I was definitely glad to come back to him...not Utah though. I absolutely love California! Our whole purpose in going to California was to see Wicked and it was INCREDIBLE! Hands down the best show I've seen, you know one of those rare ones that give you chills, yep that was it. I was surprised at how different the story really was compared to what I gathered from the soundtrack. I don't even know what to say except everyone needs to see this! The cool thing was that one of my best friend's Kim was in LA on business that week and was supposed to fly out that night (Thursday), but we had an extra ticket so she changed her flight and came with us! It was great to have her there for a night! The rest of the weekend was spent at the beach, the pool, shopping, and eating...what more could you ask for!

My sister really wanted to go to the San Diego Temple, so we headed down to San Diego on Saturday for the rest of our trip. I was so glad we did...not only is the temple absolutely gorgeous, but I fell in love with San Diego...it's awesome!
Just a random, weird, sisters posing on the beach moment! (I finally added a little bit of color to my pale skin :)


Me, Kim, My mom, and Ali in front of the theatre

Us taking a walk along the bay in San Diego...so beautiful!
This was literally right outside of our hotel in San Diego.

Ali and I at the temple....later that night we got asked if we were twins by a guy at the restaurant we ate dinner! Do we really look that similar? Oh and better yet...he then asked which was older! Didn't know how to really take that...I mean come on there's 8 years between us!!
I really have never seen anything as beautiful as the San Diego Temple! I know this is cheesy..but it really is breathtaking!

There's no reason for some of these...I just like taking pictures!

The first attempt at taking this picture ended with my camera crashing down on the ramp....apparently it wasn't stable enough to handle me running down the ramp, trying to beat the timer on my camera. Luckily there was a nice fisherman willing to take it for us.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend....busy, but fun! The greatness of the weekend started out early for me with the season premiere of my all time favorite TV show So You Think You Can Dance! With the exception of The Office, Lost, and 24 I really don't get too into TV shows, but when it comes to this, I get a little too excited! Travis was gone at Brighton's State Soccer game (which they won...Go Bengals!), so Cooper and I watched it alone. When Travis got home, I was in the best mood, dancing around my kitchen and I asked him if it was bad that a TV show made me so happy. Is it? Regardless, I love it and can't wait for a wonderful season of dancing!

Moving on, Friday night we got asked out on our first "couple date" by some friends from our ward. We went to dinner and then back to their house for a night of games and a whole lot of laughing. We had so much fun...these people are great! It was fun to finally start getting to know people in our ward. We've been a little (ok maybe a lot) anti-social when it comes to our ward, but we're coming out slowly but surely!

We had family pictures Saturday morning with Travis' family. We went to Gardner Village and despite the cold and wind, they turned out really good! I got a sneak peek on Sunday and I'll post them as soon as we get them.

Saturday night we went to our first Bees game of the year! We went with Travis' friend from Seattle and his date. For those of you who don't know Travis, he's a little bit obsessed with baseball. Not to the point of extreme (I read a friend's post and realized I'm lucky), he just loves it. So naturally throughout dating and now being married, his love for baseball has rubbed off on me. I can honestly say that I like it now. He was the one that taught me how to play catch...yes, its true, I had never played catch before he came into my life. Where were my brothers and dad all my life...I don't know. I can't blame my lack of sports athleticism all on them...I was much more interested in dance...but still there are certain things that brothers and dads should just do and one of those it playing catch...even though I may have hated it at the time, I would have appreciated it down the road ie now! Anyway, I love playing catch with Travis and I love going to baseball games with him, now if we could just get some decent weather so that we could do both of those things more often! (better not even go there or else I might just get a little upset, but I will say this...I am SO sick of this crappy weather...its killing me! Ok I'm done)

Memorial Day was a little bit of a bummer. We started out the day by going to the gym with my family. Always a good thing. Then we had the annual Turner family reunion at the park, which thanks to the weather, ended up being all of us huddled under the pavillion with blankets trying to stay warm! All we could do was eat and talk, which ended up being good! Then we headed over to my house for an extended family get together. All I can say is there is never a dull moment when you get all my aunts together! They can be loud, obnoxious, occasionally inappropriate, but I love them and they are always entertaining! All in all a great weekend, too bad it went way too fast!

This is Jace at Travis' parents house on Sunday. He started out by filling Cooper's water bowl up and chasing him around trying to dump it on him. It ended with him just filling it up and dumping it on himself over and over! Why you may ask? Who knows...we wonder sometimes where this kid came from! He's so cute and so fun to have around!

Here we are at the family reunion, all bundled up. Me, Travis, Jace and his mom Ashlee

Running with Angels

Saturday Travis and I, my Mom, Dad, and Aunt Kitty ran the Running with Angels 5k! It was down in Thanksgiving Point and it was beautiful! Perfect weather, gorgeous setting (we were litterally running through the gardens) and great running partners! I was so proud of my parents. My mom has never really been a runner; my dad has done quite a bit of running, but only because I would make him go with me in the mornings when I lived at home. They both made really good time...I was impressed! I also have to give props to my awesome husband too...it means a lot to me that even though he pretty much hated running at first (I'm believing that it's a past tense thing), he does it because I love it and he loves me!

The Importance of Motherhood

**Warning- This is a REALLY long post**

This has been on my mind for over a week and I was surprised at how much it affected me. My friend sent me this link to an article from ABC News about the growing population of couples that choose to remain childless.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/comments?type=story&id=3413039

The article alone was disturbing, but it wasn't until after I started reading the comments that people had made that I really started getting worked up. Every single comment was negative regarding motherhood and everyone was talking about how much of a "burden" children were and that they like their convienent, childless lives too much to have to "worry" about kids! Are you serious?? Do they not realize the effect their opinions would have on humanity if everyone adopted their beliefs?? I know this may sound dramatic, but really, What is this world coming to? I have never felt Satan's power over the earth more than as I read this article. He's not only tempting people to commit the awful crimes that we see all around us, but he is cutting straight to the core by destroying the one unit that is most important, the family! Even though I am not a mother yet, my heart still knows that I will be a mother and knows that there is no other role that is more vital, than the opportunity to bring a child into a loving home. I have included some quotes from some of the comments that I read that really disturbed me......

"...The world has plenty of humans, we're in no danger of going instinct, in fact we are probably overpopulating this planet and are definitely putting a huge pressure on the environment and other species, so NOT having kids is probably doing the world a favor!"

"...If I truly wanted children, the sacrifices, inconveniences, and unpleasant aspects of childrearing would pale in comparison to the benefits. My decision to remain child-free has very little to do with wanting to advance my career, keep my figure, and enjoy time to myself and with my s/o (although all these things are wonderful advantages!!). While I do have a myriad of economic, philosophical, and practical reasons for not wanting children, it ultimately comes down to the fact that I just don’t like children, and have no maternal feelings towards them."

"...The female host mentioned that she comes from a big family and having kids "is just what you do". That's an example how most of the population are sheep - just doing something because that's the way it has always been done, instead of thinking through important decisions and making an informed decision."

"...We don't hate children, just don't want the responsibility and financial burden."

"...We have other things that we would like to do that if we had kids, would really limit the experience."

"...I think something's wrong with THEM for wanting to carry a child, deliver a child, change diapers and have their sleep disrupted, and raise a child when there's always a chance that they may turn out to be the next crazy kid who goes on a shooting spree at school or do other devastating things! I don't have to worry about such things!! I do what I want, when I want, and get plenty of peace and quiet, and "ME" time!!"

Luckily, I have a wonderful friend who is a wonderful mother who posted the most beautiful comment in rebuttal to all of the negative ones. Thank you Jeni for being willing to stand up for motherhood and the amazing blessings that come from it! Here's her comment....

"As I read this article I immediately thought of one of my childhood heroes- Jackie Joyner-Kersee, an Olympic gold medalist in track and field. I thought, “Now that’s someone who really knows what it’s like to be a mother”. As an Olympic athlete, you give up your free time to train your body to reach its potential. You work day in and day out until you’re so tired you can’t move. You work through injuries and through fatigue, but you keep on working. You see your friends enjoying their lives and wonder if all this hard work will be worth it. But each day you look back and know that you’ve given it your all and in your tired state, you fall asleep smiling. The little victories start to come as you when small races. You find joy in each medal, and even in seeing other people win their first medals. The Olympics arrive and you know you’ll be standing with some of the greatest people who have ever lived. You give it your all and this time- it is enough. No joy can compare to looking back and seeing all that you have accomplished and all you have become. And even though you were happy along the way, no joy can compare to what you feel at this moment, knowing you’ve accomplished your dream.

And so is motherhood. You sacrifice your time, your body, your whole self to train a little baby on how to become an adult. Your work through fatigue, through hard days, through financial crisis, but you keep on going. Willing to do anything to give your sweet baby the chance to reach their potential. You see people around you traveling, enjoying their freetime, and you wonder if you made the right choice. But each night as you tuck your sweet little child into bed and hear the precious words, “I love you Mommy,” you know that none of your childless, traveling friends can be enjoying such pure, inexplicable happiness as you feel at this moment.The little joys come as your child learns to walk, to say their first words, and eventually to grow up and have children of their own. But as you spend your last few moments on earth surrounded by the people that you love, you know that although you were blessed with a lot of happy moments along the way, no joy can compare to the joy you feel at this moment. Knowing that you’ve given up your life to give life to another person.

As a mother you stand with the greatest people who ever lived. E. T. Sullivan once wrote these interesting words: “When God wants a great work done in the world or a great wrong righted, he goes about it in a very unusual way. He doesn’t stir up his earthquakes or send forth his thunderbolts. Instead, he has a helpless baby born, perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits."The greatest joys can only come through the biggest sacrifices.

If you live your life selfishly, never taking risks and never giving your whole self to something, you will live a mediocre existence. You may seem happy enough, but you will miss out on the sweetest, most rewarding moments. The feelings of love that truly make life worth living."

Sorry this is so long, but it was something that I feel very strongly about and needed to share!

Girls Night Out

Last night my friends and I got together for a much needed Girls Night! These are my friends from college and adopted sisters and I just love these girls! A couple of them I haven't seen since my wedding...sad! We all got together and decided to have a sort of potluck dinner instead of going out to eat, which I was all for because sometimes I really don't like eating out and not having control of the health factor of my food. Travis and I usually go out to dinner on the weekends, which I love, but more than that gets to be a bit much for me. Anyway, we had a delicious dinner and just hung out and talked for a few hours. I love the fact that whenever we get together (and this is how it is with all my close friends, whether from high school, middle school or even elementary school!) no matter how long it has been since we've seen each other, we still have so much fun laughing and talking...its like we were back in school being together every day! As we were sitting there reminiscing about the good-ol college days, it was crazy to think that we are all (almost) married, having kids, moving across the country, etc, because really it doesn't seem that long ago that we were all sitting in our apartment, eating ice cream, and talking about our crushes, doing anything we could to put off our homework (Except for Laura...she was always the motivated, studious example to us all). Which really is not far off from what we were doing last night, except the talking is now about our husbands and children! I have some awesome memories with these girls that I wouldn't trade for anything and it is so fun that we are all growing up and moving on with our lives and are still friends! Love you guys!

Jeni, Me, Jessica, Molly, Kim, Laura and Katie