In the strength of the Lord...

we can do HARD things. 

My dad is my hero. So strong. Valiant. A true disciple of Christ.

When we pray for experiences to strengthen our faith we don't expect something so hard and scary...

 ...but my family is certainly being refined and polished. 

Thank you dad for helping us remember what is important.  

We love you 

children of the corn

I just wanted to post a couple pictures of my cute niece and nephew. Probably the cutest kids ever. We get to see Shea and Eden this week so we will get a lot more pictures! Love them both.

 sass a frass

mom, this foam pit is so exhausting!  

 I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be 

(one of my favorite books growing up)

One hard day at the office! 

4th of july

We got to visit family over the 4th weekend, which was great. We spent the first couple days with my family and then attended a baptism and blessing combo for Nate and Cindy's children on Saturday. We were excited that we finally got work off to attend a family function. :)
I didn't get any pictures at the baptism/blessing (sorry) but here are just a couple from the weekend.

Mac and little Traegy. We went to breakfast at Angie's in Logan 

 My dad cooking his famous chicken over the fire. I don't eat much meat, but you can't pass up dad's chicken! It was delish

This is the view from my dad's property on Glendale Reservoir. As much as I love Southern Utah, you can't beat Preston in the summer. 

tj's surgery

Tj had some refractory elbow pain that stuck around for almost a year! After physical therapy, chiropractic intervention, ice, compression, and rest didn't work we knew something more had to be done. He got an MRI that showed a cartilage defect, as well as a buildup of Plica in the joint. Still a mystery how this happened.
The pain was really really bad, both at rest and with exertion, so we opted for surgery. His surgery was on June 27. Everything went well and he is healing great. Hopefully it takes care of the pain and discomfort. Last night was the first night in almost a year that he did not have to take ibuprofen or tylenol to sleep. Amazing.

Enjoy the awful self portrait below (from my phone so it's a bit blurry). 

 Really feelin the drugs in this picture

i know, i know...

...I am officially the worst blogger ever. Life gets in the way sometimes. Here are some pictures of my newly painted living room/kitchen. Jess and my mom came down about a month ago and helped with the project!

Jess and Tj made this canvas creation. I love it! 

...

Tj has designed our backyard on Paint. Anyone want to donate to the backyard fund so that we can get rid of all these weeds???!

As you can see, he is really excited to have those backyard basketball games. I mandated the garden and the fire pit.
I am sure the design will change many more times before we actually get it done.

I will post pictures of our new house soon!

lifetime students

Some of you may know that I am a lifer when it comes to school. I have been going to school non-stop since I graduated. Since Kindergarten if you really think about it. I am so excited to say that I will be DONE in July. I will have my Masters in Health Education and I can't wait to be done and begin working in the field of wellness and prevention.
TJ has been hitting the books hard as well, and will have his Bachelors in Accounting in December. He has a great job at an investment firm here in St. George and is going to get his MBA soon.

we are so blessed.

All our hard work has paid off and we can't wait until the majority of our time is spent somewhere BESIDES our home office. :)

Thanks for everyone's love and support!