I Love to See the Temple

Avery has been working on mastering this song for the past week and she finally got through it all by herself. She was so proud of herself and we're proud of her. She worked really hard and does a fantastic job.

10 years!!!

10 years ago today James and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake temple. I cant even believe it has already been 10 years. We have been through a lot of ups and downs; we have had help, encouragement, support from friends and family. But we have also had a lot of negativity and even some supposed friends advising us to give up and get a divorce. Still through it all we held on and have made some wonderful memories and traditions as we continue to become more of a family unit. We have a spunky yet determined (James' favorite phrase) little girl who is ready to take on the world at 4 years old. We are also excited to welcome another little one into our family in April.
Through all the up's and down's James and I have always tried to draw close to each other as well as the Lord. We are currently living in a beautiful city that we love; surrounded by beautiful red rock, and exciting adventurous opportunities that we cant wait to experience.
I've never been one to be able to give a sappy spill about my undying adoration towards my mate. But I really love James and couldn't ask for a better man to be my husband. Him and I have this wonderful connection and we both understand each other so well and on so many levels. I am excited to see where the next 10 years takes us. :)

Welcome FALL

We are so excited that fall is finally here in St. George. The days are cooler and stay in the 70's with an occasional day in the low 80's. Our Halloween decorations are up and we are excited and ready to go. We have been getting back into hiking now that its cooler.

James has been helping out at Staheli Farms to get ready for the haunt for the past 2 weeks. They are now up and running and James is so excited to be the butcher again Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. :p

 Gross I know! :) But it keeps him happy his little haunted house and I don't have to be anywhere near it. :p Which makes me happy.

He tried to get a good picture of the front of the haunted house. it didn't turn out so well.
Avery and I have been enjoying all the fun little things that this season brings and we are excited to go do more.

 One of my co-workers wife had a baby. (Zach Gates) We all decided to pitch in to buy something and I volunteered to go and get it. I kinda went the extra mile and decided to try my hand at making a diaper cake. For my first attempt I think it turned out really well.

 Well here's to a fun filled fall and to cooler temperatures. :)

Labor Day Fun

Every year James gets together with his brother Bob and a bunch of guy friends. they rent a condo in Park City for a weekend (ish), they push tables together and assemble the largest computer gaming central I have ever seen right in the middle of the living room. For 3-4 days straight all they do is play games, and watch movies. But mostly play games. This year this "guy fest" was scheduled over labor day weekend. So we decided to make a fun vacation out of it. We took Sept 2nd off work and headed up to Park City that morning. After we got to park city and James unloaded his gear and we said our goodbyes. (or see ya laters. :p) Avery and I headed to Ogden for a weekend with family. We stayed with Nikki and her family; it was so nice to see them again, its been a long time. Avery was beside herself with joy being able to spend time with her cousins. Especially the two closest to her age, Parker and Andrew. We got to their house around 5 ish, Avery and the boys immediately went outside to play in the back yard and I got to rest. :) Saturday (the 3rd) for lunch we went to a park and had a picnic and then the kids played for awhile. Justin (their dad) had to work so it was fun to spend some time with him before he left. After lunch Nikki was kind enough to let Avery stay at her house to play with the boys while I ran some errands. I know Avery would have HATED to go with me to get my phone screen's fixed. It was actually kinda nice just to have some "me" time. That evening Nikki and I were trying to think of what to do, but both her and I seemed a little tired and not wanting to go out really. So we decided to do pizza and rent a movie from amazon. Sunday morning Avery was sad because I forgot to pack our church clothes so we couldn't go with them to church. her and I played a little and I tried to help out by cleaning up the place. Avery was sure happy when church was over and they were back home and jumping on the trampoline with  her. :) I sat down and was watching a show with Gavin when I accidentally fell asleep...oops. When I woke up James and Bob had showed up ready for dinner. Ethan pulled out a game of hungry hungry hippos (which Avery LOVED) while we waited for dinner. After everyone ate, Nikki surprised Avery with a belated birthday gift. She was thrilled. Bob had left to make his way back to Salt Lake and we got little ones ready for bed and let them sit down stairs to watch TV. Nate, Abby, James, Nikki , (and later joined by Ethan) and I pulled out ticket to ride and played a fun game till close to 1AM. The whole weekend was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed ourselves. the only hard thing about going back to St George was the weather. :p In Ogden it was in the high 60's low 70's with Fall in the air and leaves already changing on the mountain. It got me even more excited for Fall; we got home to 90 degree summer style weather in St George. :p But I sure do love living here.