"The earth has its music for those who will listen"

George Santayana

And like a Siren's song, that music kissed our ears and we set sail.

The loud sea started out a little stormy but calmed and quieted. Letting the earth's song fill and refresh our souls.

 

 We decided to head out on an impromptu camping trip in the Uinta mountains. This would actually be the third week in a row we would spend our weekend in this magical place. Those Sirens and their songs, you know. 

We packed our things and headed out early Friday morning. Excited to escape the heat. Just as we passed Morgan, we heard a flapping, clanking noise. Our first panic thought wandered to our kayak (we christened it Aspen Glow). Was she adventuring on the freeway without us? Nope, she was tied, safe and sound. Oh, man it was our tire. A little strip of tire was flapping in the wind. Luckily, we were close to Morgan. We laughed and felt blessed we weren't halfway to the Uinta mountains. We had been putting off getting tires and what better time then now. Unfortunately, Morgan didn't have our tires. So we carefully made our way to Riverdale. They had what we needed, only an hour wait and they had popcorn and soda to pass the time, awesome!

On the road again! It was late in the afternoon, so we decided that maybe we should head up to North Fork to camp instead of the far-off Uinta Mountains. We were right in front of Pineview, laughing about the stressful situation when Evers, from the backseat said, "My tummy hurts." And then proceeded to throw up all her popcorn and soda all over the place. Awesome.

Home again, home again. We headed once again back down the canyon. Holding Everly's throw upy hand and laughing about deja vu. Evers was feeling fine after getting that popcorn out of her system and so we decided to switch car seats (the throw up one is still sitting in the backyard waiting for me to clean it. Yuck!) and headed back up to the mountains. We decided that even though it was now super late we would heed the Siren's call and head all the way back to the Uintas, what did we have to lose?

Definitely worth it! The music was beautiful and refreshing! 

 

Love is in the Air

Valentine's Day gets a bad rap. I'm the first to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of this consumer driven, card manufactured holiday. I've never been a soft and fuzzy feelin', chick flick watchin' kind of gal. But, I do love many people in my life and how fun it is to let them know how much I do love them.

Being a parent is hard. There are so many things I wish for my girlies. The main thing I want my baby girlies to know is how much Chris and I love them and how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them.

Chris and I tell the girlies over and over how much we love them. We tickle, hug, kiss, chase and laugh with our cute gals. I hope they always know how much we love them.

 

The world is loud. It's full of noise. The noise sometimes tries to block out the love of our Heavenly Father and sometimes the noise wins. We are constantly bombarded with degrading music, TV and magazines. It makes it hard to feel loveable and easier to feel not good enough. I want my girls to know where they came from and how much their Heavenly parents loves them and how they will always be there, even when it seems like they aren't. 

It seems a daunting task to teach my little loves this when the world is so loud. So loud in fact that there are times when I feel down and lonely and not good enough. 

A few months ago I was thinking about what I would ask Heavenly father or Jesus Christ if I were to be able to see them that day. I have a million questions because that's how my crazy mind works. I want to know how everything works. I tried to narrow it down to a few questions. Over the course of a few days I finally thought. "I just want to know you care". 

The next day I was reading my scriptures. I usually read them on my phone but this day I pulled out my triple combination and thought where should I look. I decided randomly to turn to 1 Peter. I turned to chapter 5 and then I read verse 7 "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."  

I found it so interesting that my Heavenly Father loves me so much that he would answer my one question. I want my girls to know with surety, that Heavenly Father "careth" for them. So I will teach them.

For FHE last week we talked about why we celebrate Valentine's Day. We made sure the girls knew and know that we love them and then I asked who loves you the most and without skipping a beat Nory said "Jesus loves me!"

We talked about how Jesus loves us and he want us to love everyone. We then made Valentine's and did a few secret Valentine's service projects (don't want to spoil our secret projects with too many details). As we did these certain secret projects Nora giggled and giggled. Everly joined in the fun. At the end of the night, we were driving home and Nora smiling ear to ear said, "Best night ever!!!" 

 

Over the last couple weeks we've done some other fun Valentine's activities like wreathes

and Valentine's

Chris and I decorated the girls doors with conversation hearts

(In case you're wondering I do let the girls tape art work to their door. It's too cute I can't say no.)

We did an awesome science project. Making crystal hearts. I can't wait to see what they look like tomorrow!

 Love is definitely in the air and I hope my girlies never forget how much Chris and I love them and how much their Heavenly Parents love them!

It Still Did

And here we go. A new year is upon us

 I'm ready for the profoundly, intricate jaunt down the halls of 2016. I love this life I have been blessed with. I love the intense climbs, the deep plummets and the gentle hum of the mundane. The extremes of all complimenting each other as they fold and mix together. Creating a life perfectly, imperfect. I embrace and welcome that imperfection. I'm at home in imperfections strong arms.

 

2015 treated us well and even when it didn't, it still did.

Right off the bat, our poor, little Evers got sick. We spent countless hours in different doctor's offices. We went from her pediatrician, to Primary Children's Hospital, to Mckay Dee hospital, to the allergist, back to her pediatrician and then back to Primary's. Test after test, sample after sample. This poor girl saw so many doctors that to this day she gets mad when we pull into the parking lot of her pediatrican. Finally, we decided to take her to a kinesiologist. He did what others couldn't and along with many prayers and blessings, she was soon back to her spunky self.    

 

I didn't get pictures of her getting a barium test done because that was way too traumatic for me, I didn't even think to pull out my camera as I was trying hold back tears. In hindsight, I wish I would have so one day we could have shown her what she had to go through. They had to tie her legs together, pin her down and make her drink a gross drink which she spit back in their faces as she screamed at them.  The nurse thought she was the cutest, strong willed baby. She laughed about how Evers wasn't just crying but that little girl was shouting angry baby babble at them. It seemed unbearable to watch my baby suffer. How grateful we felt to Heavenly Father for helping us through this trial.

 

Around the time we got Babylove's stuff under control My horse, Blue got sick. He dropped so much weight. I thought it was time to send my old buddy to greener pastures. I had him at an acupuncturist, chiropractor, a couple different vets, until finally, we got some answers. We then calorie packed his diet and he was and is, back to his wild self.

We had some major job changes in our household. When Everly got sick, we decided it would be best for me to quit my job and concentrate on getting her feeling 100%. I loved my job. Working with children with special needs was one of the most rewarding things I've done in my life. It was challenging but those challenges paled in comparison to the joy. I was sad to leave but knew it was time.

A few months after I quit, Chris got a new job in Heber City. He was sad to leave the friends he had made but excited for this new adventure. Change is scary but what's life without a sprinkle of scary.

We had an awesome amount of excellent adventures. We love the great outdoors (I'm pretty sure I could do this whole paragraph in movie titles) so we introduced Hiking Saturday into our weekly mix. The hikes filled our Saturdays with dirt, rocks, waterfalls, caves, heat, a few accidental dives into the water and a few not so accidental dives into the water, a few tears and tired feet. We loved every minute of it.

(We hiked all over the place. In no particular order: The Kays Creek walkway, a waterfall in Centerville, Donut Falls, Patsy's Mine, Farmington walkway, Causey Reservoir, Adams Canyon, Fernwood, Cascade Springs, a fairy garden in the Uinta mountains, Antelope Island, Zion National Park, and to petroglyphs in Santa Clara.)

For my Birthday, Chris surprised me with an airplane ride. It was absolutely breathtaking!

 We went to St. George for a week to watch my dad play softball in the Huntsman Senior World game. We were able to see my dad receive a ring for playing in the games for 15 years. It was so neat. We had so much fun. We watched America's favorite pastime, hiked, ate, swam, went to Tuacahn and many more lively happenings.

At the end of the summer, we were lucky enough to spend a few days at our sister in-law's family cabin in Heber City. We went swimming, bowling, hiking, and best of all we were able to relax and enjoy the beauty of Heber City.

Elanora started pre-school. I can't believe my little Babyface is old enough to go to school. She's a smart gal and she loves every minute of it. On the first day of school she said I could just drop her off and then leave. My independent girl. It was so hard to leave her. Even though she only goes twice a week for a few hours, I miss her when she's gone. How am I ever going to handle kindergarten?

 We went to carnivals, fairs, festivals. We celebrated holidays and birthdays. We played at the park and watched super blood moon eclipses. We played in the rain, the snow, and in the sprinklers. Attended church and visited temples and we swam every week in between. How truly blessed and grateful we are for the memories made within the pages of 2015.

Oh yes, 2015 treated us well, and even when it didn't

It still did.