Reality Check

A girl in my ward posted this and it could have been written by me. I know that nobody checks my blog because I don't get it updated but I loved this article and I wanted to have it archived.

As I sit at the computer contemplating whether or not to exercise or whether to go yell at my kids because Ryan's family is coming for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I am wasting time. We are doing well and are excited for Cory to enter the MTC, Lana to bring her brand new baby and for RICK to get married on Saturday. Not only that but I get to go spend 3 days at Clear Creek on Monday with 175 5th graders:))


By Connie Sokol
Lately, I've been thinking about realities.

Like the reality that you have four pairs of great jeans in your closet, and you can only fit into one.

Or the reality that you deeply love your children, and yet today, you want to physically rip out their vocal cords if they sass you one more time.

This is a complex issue, this living in two different realities — the one that is the best of us and the one in which we are working on it.

Sometimes, we can look at others and see their best reality. Their children are excellent students, and they're not even trying.

Or finances seem to flow like endless waters and they're not even budgeting.

While your reality is scraping, working long hours and still barely making basic ends meet.

Or the reality of a woman whose child seems to win all the school contests of achievement or just seems to know pretty much everything, like exactly where her children's Tylenol is kept. (I attended a meeting at a woman's home when in the middle of a sentence her adult daughter called and asked how long to boil a soft-boiled egg. And she knew.)

Sometimes, this can make our "working on it" reality self feel a little stressed. I'm not going to share an in-depth happy thought that this is a beautiful thing, that seeing our striving self brings needed humility, or that it helps us feel compassion and connection for, and with, others.

Today is simply an observation that it just is, and to save time and stress by openly acknowledging it for ourselves.

For example, years ago, our family was asked to sing in church.

We chose a song about families loving and helping, and hoped the message would subconsciously seep into our children's formative brains.

When we sang the song on the appointed day, it was beautiful. So much so that afterward people came up and expressed extremely kind sentiments.

But instead of saying thank you, what I really wanted to say was, "You should have seen us three hours before." Because you see, three hours before, the scene in our home went like this: With my husband at a meeting, I was running around checking the various stages of dress that each child was in.

Most of them were playing with toys or looking for their shoes.

When I called our six children down to practice the song, the older boys said something like, "This is totally preschool and I'm not doing it," the younger children couldn't stand still long enough for me to form a line and keep it, and in the anxiety of it all, I kept sweating off my make up.

The joyous high point hit when my sons sat down on the sofa and refused to sing at all and I yelled at them to get up and see it through to the end, or some such motivational phrase.

Yes, yelled at them. To sing a church song.

A family-loving-each-other church song.

That's when I started to cry.

So you can see why, to each person who thanked me and looked at me with that "gee, what a wonderful family" look, I wanted to pull down a mammoth white screen and re-run the previous three-hour tour.

This experience has stayed a long time with me (though therapy may have helped, too).

Because now when I see an obvious best reality in someone else, before I have time to feel guilty or feel like, gee, why isn't that my best reality, I remember a song and the three-hour tour before it.

It brings me back to reality.

November 1st???

Wow, what a month October was... When you teach school Halloween has extra meaning. We had a fun day with parades, puzzles and lots of treats. Then I came home to a full house of kids and friends. They went to the carnival at their school for a little while and then we went to the ward party. Ryan wore his 50 pounds of chainmail. Needless to say his shoulders were a little sore. I actually wore my madrigal dress that my mom made for me 21 years ago. Of course with the back insert because I'm a lot bigger than I was 21 years ago. For school I wore my poodle skirt, and letterman jacket that my mom made 20 years ago also. It was a good thing that I had a great mom that would sew. Now I just use her costumes for me and my kids. Kathryn did my hair. I looked like Tracy Turnblough. It was very big. These pictures were taken afer 12 hours of school:))

Abby and my nephews came with us that night. Then on Saturday the gang went trick or treating. I stayed home and handed out candy. I had lots of my nursery kids come to see me. I also watched 'Clue' it is an old family favorite. "I am your singing telegram...bang!"
Now to get ready for Thanksgiving, Rick's wedding and Clear Creek. It will be a crazy month.

50s Choir Concert~~ Darren and Abby King

Catching up!

Okay I'll back up a little bit.

My cute baby boy turned 16 on September 19th. He is a dream son. He is such a fun kid to have around and I am totally proud to be his mom. He works hard and is a blast to have. We took him on a double date and trained him on how to treat girls while on dates so he is good and ready. He hasn't gotten to take driver's ed because he is going to a new high school and he was working at Scout camp all summer so he didn't get in the first round. Then he got a notice for him to start but he is trying out for the basketball team and has practice everyday before and after school. So the driving will have to wait a couple of months.

Rebecca turned 9 on October 2nd and she had a blast with her Horton cousins going to Subway and bowling. It was really fun. I can't believe that my youngest kid is 9. She is so active and has LOVED playing soccer again this season.

We had a blast going to General Conference on the 3rd. We got to take our whole family and we learned a lot.

My brother Jon and Liz and their baby Ania moved Poland yesterday. It is really hard to have them move so far away. They have been living in Cali by mom and dad for the last few years but we have loved that Liz's parents live here in Eagle Mountain so we have gotten to see them lots. They blessed Ania last Sunday and many of my brothers and sisters, as well as my parents were able to come to Utah to say goodbye. We have waited so long for them to be able to have a baby and now we aren't going to get to see her grow. :(

On Monday Darren had a choir concert at the new high school. He did FANTASTIC. I was truly impressed with his performance. He accredited much of it to being at scout camp and performing every night at campfires.
We have had the last couple of days off of school and I have played with my kids. We have watched many movies, been shopping and hung out with good neighbor friends.
I love my family and I am having so much fun with them the older they get. We have been blessed with amazing children. They are easy to love and to take places:))))

Goalie

Rebecca had a great time on Saturday. She got to play goalie. She loves to defend the ball and apparently she did such a great job that even the other teams coach came up to her after the game and complimented her. I missed it I was at a baby shower. Thanks Cindi for the pictures!

So I couldn't resist:

Family Pictures

My neighbor and good friend took some Beautiful pictures of my family go to cindibrabyphotography.blogspot.com to preview some of them:))

More Giveaways!

My friend is giving away tickets to the Museum of Art at Thanksgiving point!!Go to Utahmomslife.blogspot.com to enter

The drawing is on Friday!!

Giveaways...

My friend Catey has the cutest aprons that she has made... go to her site by linking over from mine.. you will love them.

What do people think of Utahns?

Ryan sent me this:

FORGET REDNECKS; THIS IS WHAT JEFF FOXWORTHY HAD TO SAY ABOUT UTAHNS!
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September to May, you live in Utah .
If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in Utah
If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Utah .
If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed the wrong number, you live in Utah .
If 'vacation' means going anywhere south of Salt Lake City for the weekend, you live in Utah
If you measure distance in hours, you live in Utah
If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in Utah
If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' and back again in the same day, you live in Utah
If you install security lights on your house and garage but leave both doors unlocked, you live in Utah
If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Utah
If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in Utah
If the speed limit on the highway is 75 mph -- you're going 80, and everyone is still passing you, you live in Utah
If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in Utah
If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you live in Utah
If you find 10 degrees 'a little chilly' you live in Utah
If you actually understand these jokes and forward them to all your friends, you live in Utah .

A Fun Free Giveaway!

My friend Cindi runs this website. It is Utahmomslife.blogspot.com She posts lots of fun ideas, recipes, outings, and GREAT deals and giveaways. This week she is giving away passes to Thanksgiving Point. Check it out!

Disneyland... I know it is a month late

We had so much fun at Disneyland...

I am the second of 10 kids
Denny, Kerri, Jeff, Marguerite, Teresa, Jon, Emilie, Jim, Meri, and Sarah...

So for Disneyland we had my mom, me, Marguerite, Emilie, Meri and Sarah and my four girls. We rode lots of rides, ate treats and had a blast. My girls are ready for big rides so Meri and Emilie promised them next time we'll do MAGIC Mountain:)
When I went home in June it was the first time in 3/4 years that I had been home so this really was a fun treat especially to see so many of the kids. Thank you Marguerite so much for getting us the tickets...
Denny and Jon and Jim had come to the graduation so we had seen them also. I love being part of such a fun family.

Darren has been working at Camp Maple Dell all summer so he hasn't gotten to do some of our fun trips. But don't feel sorry for him he is loving it and is making $$$.

More more summer fun...

Here are some more pictures of the lake...

More summer fun...

Friday we had the chance to go boating with my college roommate and her family. We met them at the resevoir and then after a fun day went to stay at their house and played and visited all night long. Our kids had so much fun and it was hard to believe that it has been 17+ years that we lived together at dear old Carroll Hall at BYU.

Sarah's Graduation Pictures

Backing up!

Okay I know I haven't posted forever. Last month in June I took the opportunity to take Ryan's little car and the four girls to my parents' home in southern Cali. Sarah my youngest sister was graduating from high school. We had figured out that Sarah with 9 older brothers and sisters she has had to sit through 7 high school and 7 college graduations so we might as well make an effort to go to hers.

While there we visited Marguerite at the Reagan Library, went to the beach, hung out at the YMCA and topped it off with a free day at Disneyland with mom and four of my sisters:)

MAY

Okay I know May was just one of those months that maybe we'd want to forget:

Ryan- work, work, trenched our backyard (that is as far as it has gotten), planted fruit trees, 17th Anniversary

Kerri- Hope of America, CRT testing, Last 2 classes for my licensure (I'm done!), 17th Anniversary, Mother's Day, 37th birthday, report cards, Teresa visit, Mom visit, Jon visit, moved out of classroom, job interviews, finished a school year, ward party

Darren- Got ready to go work at Scout camp for summer, choir concerts, 9th grade graduation, basketball tournament, CRT tests, finished school.

Kathryn- Babysat, CRT tests, Choir concerts, finished school, helped with my classroom, my class dvd and played

Jessica- 6th grade graduation, opera for kids by kids, choir concert, spelling bee, CRT testing, finished school.

Stephanie- choir concert, CRT tests, finished school, attended like 6 different birthday parties

Rebecca- CRT tests, finished school, went to everyone elses performances, registered for soccer next fall

Obviously we had a month of running around like crazy. We are glad to have it over and done with. This week Darren has been gone and we have painted a couple of rooms, cleaned out some bedrooms and slept:)

Birthday Pictures

Spring Break

Our 'work-a-tion' started last Friday night. On Saturday I cleaned out the pantry, cleaned the kitchen cabinets, and behind the fridge and stoves. Ryan cleaned outside in our dirt pile. Jessica cut off all of her hair and donated to locks of love. This way her haircut was FREE! Easter Sunday pictures.

Monday we began cleaning the basement and prepping the yard for the guy to come with the bobcat to grate our backyard on Tuesday. On Tuesday the guy came and grated it just in time for the rain and snow to fall. We now have a swimming pool in our yard. Maybe it will be dry for a couple of more days so that we can dry out enough to bring in the manure and get it rotitilled. Oh on Monday we also had about 4 families over for a BBQ and they stayed and played games until after 11pm.

Tuesday some of the families rented out the roller rink so Ryan took the 3 girls skating and Kathryn and I went to my class at SLCC. Afterwards we went to visit my brother and sister in law in Riverton. We were there till nearly 11pm. Are you beginning to see a pattern here?

Wednesday we relaxed after we finished cleaning out the basement. Then we went with the Grahams to the temple and out to dinner. We got home around 11pm. Once again.

On Thursday I went visiting teaching and then Ryan and I went shopping in Orem for our Japanese dinner. We bought Mario Cart at Costco and surprised the kids. They stayed up all night playing the wii. They awoke early Friday morning and began playing. Then we decided to go to the dollar movie so they were vacuuming and Stephanie stepped on a toothpick. It stuck into her foot and then broke off. Ryan was trying to get it out but didn't have any sharp tweezers to get a good grip so we called the doctor and he said to bring her in. We knew it wasn't deep enough to need stitches we just knew that there was still some in there. Well, after the doctor had to eventually pull out the knife and cut it out it was nearly an inch long! It totally surprised us. It was totally embedded into her foot. So we were glad that we had taken her in. It is very sore and poor thing is having a hard time walking around. That night Ryan and I took Darren and Kathryn to see Rick (Ryan's brother) in his comedy show. Guess what we got home around midnight:)

Saturday Melissa Graham,

Michelle Minson and I went to a square foot gardening class. Meanwhile Ryan was at home rolling sushi, and getting the house ready for our Japanese dinner date. We had two seatings but only had to babysit kids for the first one. It was really fun and the couples had a good time. Rebecca says thanks to everyone that came and we hope that it was well worth your $$. Rick, Amy and her brother Steve and his wife April stayed after their dinner and played pitt and Mario until 11pm. That seems to be the magic number this week. Yikes tomorrow we have to go back to school. Oh well only 28.5 school days left:)

Birthday Girls

I know this is so late but Kathryn and Jessica both had really fun birthday parties. Kathryn had boys and girls and we watched 'the fugitive' on the wall with the projector. They both did scavenger hunts and got fun presents. Kathryn decorated both of their cakes. She is so talented when it comes to that. Jessica's is the doll cake and Kathryn's had the layers.

Our Family project

A few months ago we were trying to help Rebecca figure out a way to help her earn some money and Ryan had a brilliant idea: He started working things out with the kids and this is what they came up with.

JAPANESE DINNER DATE NIGHT

$30 per couple
Babysitting included
we will watch your kids in our basement.


2 Separate Seatings:
5:30 pm & 7:30 pm for each night


Friday April 17th

Sushi-Futomaki rolls, Cucumber rolls, Inarizushi
Sukiyaki
Curry
White Rice
Ice Cream
Fortune Cookie

Saturday April 18th

Sushi-Futomaki rolls, Cucumber rolls, Inarizushi
Ginger Beef
Curry
White Rice
Ice Cream
Fortune Cookie


Reservations are required call us or email me.
Call by Wednesday April 15th
There is limited seating.

100% of proceeds will be used for Back to School
for Darren, Kathryn, Jessica, Stephanie, and Rebecca.
$51 value per couple plus babysitting & gas saved!

So I thought I would post this for them. Ryan and Darren are going to do all of the cooking and the girls and I are going to babysit. Anybody is welcome to attend. We are going to limit seating to 5 couples per time slot but I was thinking it would be fun for people to arrange to do it together. You need to pick either Friday or Saturday because we are serving one different main course on each night.
If you know Ryan, which most of you do he is not going to let you starve. If you go away hungry that is your own fault. If you have any questions let me know. Kerri

They say it's your birthday!!!

Happy Birthday my dear sweet little redhead! The thing about Kathryn's birthday is it is also the anniversary of my graduation from BYU 14 years ago!
She is a total joy in our lives.

A late Birthday wish

Jessica turned 12 last week. She is officially out of primary. She is much taller than I and has been a whole head taller than the whole primary for the last year. She was nervous to go to YW but then they came into Relief Society for opening so she sat by me.

She had a great birthday party with 5 friends. They talked, played and laughed for 3 hours. It was really fun.

She had asked for new scriptures with a case. I'll post pictures later cuz they aren't on this computer.

We went to the temple dedication last night. It was really special I love sitting in places like that with my whole family.

Lana came to visit. SHE LOOKS AMAZING. She has lost 80 pounds! It was fun to see her. I haven't seen her since last spring. She has some exciting news.
Love, Kerri

I don't know why it is showing the link. But if you click on view all images you can see the pictures.

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The Bahamas

We had such a wonderful trip. When we got up Thursday morning it had snowed so we left for the airport and waited for our plane to depart. We boarded on time but by the time they had de-iced the plane we were over an hour late. By the time we landed in Dallas, TX our plane had just taken off. That ended up fine though they stuck us on a plane to leave 1.5 hours later. Then when we got to Miami our caoch ride wasn't there because we were late but we just called and they took care of every thing. We spent the night in Miami and then in the morning our coach came and picked us up for the ship.

The timing was perfect. We didn't wait in line to board or check in we just basically walked on. We had lunch and then walked around the ship to see all of the stuff. We mostly laid by the pool and as I posted before ate frozen yogurt.

We went to a comedian the first night and he was really funny, then we had late dinner. The people at our table were really fun. We were much older than them though. One couple was in their last year in law school and the other ones were just newly married, he works for the Timberlakes NBA team. (Eric his brother is the main center fielder for the Rockies- I wrote down his name but don't have it right here.) The food was delicious and we would order a few appitizers and a few entres. Desserts weren't as delicious as the courses though.

The next morning our port was Cococay. This is an island owned by the cruise company so the only people on the island were those from our boat. Ryan had scheduled a scuba trip and I laid on the beach. After a couple of hours of diving he came back and we walked to the other side and slide down this great big 40 foot inflatable waterslide. I think that it is mostly for kids but we had so much fun on it. We went down about 6 times before we decided to go and have lunch. The cruise ship did a big BBQ on the island for us so we just ate right there on our own island. After that Ryan was tired. Scuba diving makes you tired. So we took the ferry back to the boat and I had yogurt and read by the pool.

That night was the formal dinner so we got ready and went to eat. Of course I don't have any pictures of that because we would forget to grab the camera and we never stood in line to have the ship take ours.

The next morning we went to Naussau. Ryan had scheduled a 2 tank dive that was 6 hours long. So I was on my own. I took an excursion to see the Queen's staircase, a few different forts, and also see the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. It is an incredible resort. The most expensive rooms run $25,000 a night. And no I didn't add an extra 0. They have huge aquariums downstairs that we walked around. After that I went shopping and bought the kids their presents. I went back to the boat about 2 and then laid by the pool till Ryan showed up and we did lunch. Then of course Ryan went and took a nap and I read.

A couple that we had met in our hotel on the first day were renewing their wedding vows for their 25th wedding anniversary and they had invited us to come. We decided that it would be fun to see a ship wedding and they didn't have anyone else with them so we went. It was in the big glass bar at the top of the ship. It was on deck 14 and we went to that as the ship departed the Bahamas. It was an incredible sight.

That night they had a big show in the theatre so we went to that and then to dinner. At dinner I think between the 6 if us we had 17 plates on the table for entres. The funniest was when for dessert they offered Ryan's favorite "low-fat angel food cake and strawberries" he was telling the waitress that he coudn't decide whether to order 2 or 3. But I told her he was so grateful for a lowfat dessert because he had been watching his caloric intake the entire trip. She laughed too it was really funny.

We are getting old because seriously by the time we would finish dinner at 10:30 we were ready to go to bed. We didn't do any of the late night playing, which was okay because we were seriously tired.

We had to depart the boat by 8am the next morning so we got up and packed and went to breakfast. We left at a time that once again we didn't wait in any lines walked right onto our bus to the airport and were at the airport. But our plane didn't leave until 12:30. So we had a long day of traveling. We stopped in Minneapolis and then onto Salt Lake and landed around 7:30. There was snow on the ground here also.

Oh, the love of the vanilla frozen yogurt machine. All you can eat, all afternoon long while laying in the sun!!!


When asked what was my favorite part I have to be honest and say--- I love frozen yogurt. I stayed away from the pastries and didn't eat most of the treats but when it came to the soft serve I just just can't say no!


We had such a wonderful trip. 76-80 degree weather, clear skies, beautiful beaches and all the food you can eat. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah my Awesome husband.


Now I'm back here with 5th graders and cold weather. Oh well spring break is only a month away.

My kids had such a great time with Rick and Amy. The nice thing is that Rick and Amy seemed to have just as good of time with my kids also. The only glitch was the Rick forgot to tell the kids about daylight savings time. Ooops they were late to church.
I'll post pictures later! love, Kerri

My White Knight

I have to tell you I thoroughly enjoy being married to Ryan. He is my best friend. I know we tease him about the 'chainmail' armor that he made but I truly love being married to this guy.
He works so hard for our family and my kids love to be around him. Late at night when we go upstairs they like to come into our room. Someone will yell "the hotel is open" and all of a sudden we have 5 kids/teenagers climbing all over our bed. Then we can't get them out. It is so nice to know that all of our kids love us and want to be with us.
I'm excited for our trip. The idea of being alone for 5 days is WONDERFUL! Anyway I thought I'd post this even though Ryan doesn't read blogs.

I am behind.

I know, I know we haven't posted for ever. Life is BUSY as always. We had a great weekend last week. Ryan and I and Rick and Amy and their other couple friends went to dinner at Hibachi (Something). It was VERY yummy and then after visiting for a few hours we went to see "Confessions of a shopaholic" We really liked it. We want Kathryn to see it because she is a "spender". Anyway it was a really fun date.

My class is busy crazy. I had evaluations last week and this week I'm busy getting ready to leave next Thursday. To the Bahamas. Yippee!
I also had a date with Rebecca on Saturday. Just her and I shopped and hung out. It was fun. It is hard to remember that she is my baby and is 8.5.
Oh well recess is over. See ya soon. Kerri

The medallion Dinner

The Medallion Dinner

Tonight we had to go to my medallion dinner it was a blast!:) But before we went around 4 o'clock my mom called and wanted to see if I wanted to go and get my hair done for tonight, well I figure this kind of opportunity doesn't come across my path very often so I begged and pleaded for my dad to drive me to Fantastic Sam's to meet mom. and after 1 minute of begging he said I guess. And so I got my hair in an updo style. We got back from the salon about 6 and it started at 6:30 so we had to hurry. W got there and it was all decoratated gorgeous, we were directed to our seats. And for the first course they had this strawberry, peanut, salad it was really delicious! Then once we were done with that our servers (other young women leaders from our ward) took our plates and the brought us a baked potato, and this yummy chicken. Then we went into the chapel for the young womenhood awards. So as they called everybody up by wards you were given a gift and a certificate. Next you would go and shake/hug (our stake for some reason always hugs no matter what!) the stake president and his two counselors. Well when I got to him he shook my hand looked down and saw I had writing on it. And he said 'What is this?' and I responded 'You said we could at the Q&A fireside.' he smiled and then I went and sat down.

Then we found out that he had retracted his remark and that the wards were supposed to read a letter telling us that but ours hadn't yet. Oh well it was funny.
Oh for dessert they had this ice cream sandwich layer thing that was sooooooo yummy!
It was a really fun night and I FELT LIKE A PRINCESS!

My little girl is 10!!

Stephanie has been a total joy in our lives. Her c-section was easy and I recovered so fast. By the time she was less than 3 weeks old she was sleeping through the night. I was choreographing Cinderella and I would feed her, put her in her car seat and go to rehearsal at 6:30 then she would sleep all through rehearsal, I would put her in her bed and she would sleep until I got up at 6:00. She was happy and would crack up everyone. She had the longest black hair that stood straight up. My mom kept putting in gell and it still stuck straight up. She reminded me of those Munchee munchee dolls. My dad drove up the kids and we actually blessed her when she was 8 days old.
I really liked the name Stephanie but everyone was sure that I had named her after our next door neighbor Stephanie Fackrell.
She has always had curly blond hair and has loved to dance and perform. For her birthday she wanted Ryan and I to take her shopping and spend the day all by herself. So that is what we did. She had so much fun spending her money. We give each of our kids a birthday budget. With that money they can choose whether to get all surprises, to have a party, to get the money it is totally up to them. Steph started out saying that she wanted some in surprises and some on her shopping spree. But while we were shopping she changed her mind and we spent all of the money. She had made a list of stores and items she was looking for. She is so silly.
I hate that her stomach hurts her all of the time. I feel bad that we can't find anything that will help it feel better. She mostly just doesn't say anything about it anymore. Lately she has been suffering from migraine headaches also. I feel bad because she is in a lot of pain.

An old (not really) friend

Many moons ago (like 17) I lived in Carroll Hall, in Heritage Halls at BYU. At the time Jennifer Berry lived with me. We had a wonderful year. We got along so well. We walked to class each morning singing "Oh what a beautiful morning" whether it was snow or shine. She was a business major and I a dance so we would walk to the Tanner building and I would cut across to the RB. She was a fantastic pianist and she would accompany my voice lessons, in fact my teacher liked her so well that she made all of her students pay her to play for their lessons also. My perk was that if I wanted to practice she'd gladly go to the practice room with me for many hours and play and play. That is a dream to have a live-in accompanist. But there were other things too. Jenn was a fantastic example to me. She read her scriptures everyday, prayed faithfully, and always made her bed. This was a special year for both of us because we both met our husbands and made the decisions to get married. We had many long talks about family life and goals and dreams we wanted to accomplish. She was from Washington so that January we made a trip to Washington together, her and Sam, for him to meet her family and get engaged, and Ryan and I for me to meet Ryan's family (as we were already engaged). She even helped Ryan pick out my wedding ring.

Anyway after Darren was born we lost contact. I think we were both busy trying to get through school and we were in different wards, neighborhoods etc. A couple of years ago I ended up on this website and I happened to look at the name of the webhost and it was hers. I couldn't imagine anybody else having that name from Price UT so I emailed her. Since then we have exchanged Christmas cards (not me this year I was lazy) and blogs. Always saying that we needed to get together but never doing it. Well, yesterday they had tickets to the open house also and they had agreed to drive out here for lunch afterwards. We had so much fun. Her kids are adorable and she and Sam haven't changed at all. You can tell that they are a happy family and couple.

When I was growing up my mom used to say that you can tell how good of friends you are with somebody if when you get together after time and you can pick up where you left off and it feels like it hasn't been that long. That was definitely how it was for us. We talked about old times and things going on now. The lucky thing about the Gospel is that you always have that core in common also. The hours flew by and it was starting to get late so they left. But it made me sad to realize how much I've missed her over the years. The other really nice thing was that my kids took right to hers so they were having fun also. Now we'll have to make the trek to Price and go and play with them!!

Thanks guys!! Of course chainmail was tried on...

The Draper Temple

Saturday morning we had the opportunity to go to the temple open house. It was beautiful. Rebecca's favorite room was the baptismal font. Maybe she just likes water?? Steph loved the brides room but then when we were in the celestial room she was amazed. It was fun to be in the temple with all of our kids. I was trying to show Rebecca the mirrors in the sealing room but they were shooing us out too quickly. We teased Ryan about the groom's dressing room. You know a locker, though there is a mirror in there. ha ha

I know that I posted that some of us had gotten haircuts here they are too.