Oh the Places We'll Go...

A fallen crown...

2011-12-01T22:10:00.005-07:00

This is about as classic as it gets, sure it may just look like an ordinary picture of gracee dressing up. It is so much more than that... note the many rings, the "lapstick" in her right hand that she loves to rub all over her face, note the carefully placed bracelets, the dora pj's that she insists on wearing even though they have grown too snug, note the red sparkly shoes from aunt pam that she insists on wearing without socks and gets them stinky, just like many of her other shoes she has ruined with that permanent stench. (we keep confiscating them from her when we find her wearing them without socks), and last but not least the earrings and crown. The earrings actually really hurt her earlobes, but she thinks they look so pretty that she puts them on anyway and just endures the pain for as long as she can take it. Each time she brings them to me to put them on, she says, "but they won't hurt!" As if, to talk herself out of the pain the pinch brings.When she would wear this crown she would come up to me and say, "I'm a princess." My line back is, "Why hello princess Gracee!" and then I kiss her hand. Well, one day she was really upset about something and without even skipping a beat she tore the crown off and bent it in her rage. She heard it snap and discovered that she had broken her crown. Her mark of deity, the sign of her refined, high class status...GONE. Just like that. Of course she made several futile attempts to get scotch tape and try to get me to fix it. She even tried the ol' instant gratification route: "but we'll buy a new one!!!???" Me: "No Gracee, it doesn't work that way. "

A couple weeks of mourning for the loss of the crown passed without her calling herself a princess. One day she put on one of her old necklaces and said, "look Mommy, I'm a princess." I was happy that she still felt like a princess without her beloved crown. "Maybe she has learned her lesson", I thought. I was afraid if I got one too soon, she'd get an unrealistic expectation for future tragedies...this could get costly. So I decided to have her WORK to earn her CROWN back. She has a chore chart that she has been working on filling up with stickers. When it is all full, we can go choose a new crown. I also remind her when she picks her nose and eats it and spits on the floor that princesses don't do that sort of thing either.

Yes indeed, spitting, picking, raging...queens don't do that, right? What do I hope she will learn from this? Not sure, something having to do with not destroying things in tantrums and embracing princess-like qualities I guess.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

2011-11-11T16:51:00.007-07:00

I started the fun weekend by running the Halloween Half! It was really fun! Kenzie and Kimberlee aren't picutred cuz my silly phone wasn't working to take pics before the race. Good thing Heather's husband, Dave, brought a camera or we wouldn't have had pics at all!

Thanks honey for coming to the finish line, I know that's not your fav!

Gracee's first jack-o-lantern!!

Ward Trunk or Treat...meet Dora and boots, minus the red boots--left them at home, of course!

I love this pirate costume, but he already had a costume...so I just let him wear this a couple times during the day so I could soak in his cuteness.

Look! It's Dora's negligent parents that let her go trapsing about the jungle with nothing but a little monkey and a talking backpack! Nick Jr. leaves them nameless...

pizza party!!!!!!

Marnie decide our names could be Jose and Sylvia. Doesn't Russ look like a Jose here?

Tammy Fay, Pocahontas, Tonks, Paige with a fro, Me with a fro!! We watched "What Lies Beneath". Lee and I screamed a lot...and yes, we've seen it. =)

11/11/11

2011-11-11T16:49:00.001-07:00

(My journal entry from today...sorry if it's a downer, just being honest)

11-11-11

Pretty cool huh? The date won't look that cool again until next year on December 12th!!!

What a rough week. This may be my hardest week as a mom yet. Both kids have been sick all week, and now Russ too. I have been trying to spend a lot of good time with Gracee so she wouldn't notice what a cooped up week it's been. Yesterday I wasn't able to do as much because I had to take care of miserable Joey EVERY second of the day. He was feverish and sore from a shot the day before and wouldn't even let me put him down. Gracee has been acting out and disobeying every second she can think of something to disobey about ever since. I texted Russ today and told him that I've totally forgotten how to be a good mother and that I hope I don' t scar Gracee for life. He took it as a joke, but I was mostly serious. My patience runs so thin after 6 grueling days of this. I wish I could say I've already learned how to take things in stride and not let things get to me, but I'm not there yet. I dug deep so many times today for inner strength and prayed a bunch. I know this is the most important work I can be doing right now, so I really am interested in doing it right...well, as right as I can muster anyway.

Thanks for listening.

My friend Maddie

2011-10-07T16:07:00.003-06:00

One year ago today we lost our dear Madison.

http://hannigsforever.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-friend-maddie.html

Here is a copy of my journal entry today:

This is my first time attempting to write in my journal from my phone, one-handed while I am nursing...
Today is the year anniversary of madison's death. Throughout this week, I've mainly thought of marnie and paige.but today I'm mostly thinking about maddie. I'm thinking about what life must be like for her right now. Some people die when they are old, some when they are sick.others die when they are full of life and abundantly joyful, this was our maddie.
when the sick or the old are released from this life, my mins usually goes to how much happier they are. But with maddie, my thoughts are led to think about how much more AFFECTIVE she is where she is at. I imagine she is so busy doing good, that this year had absolutely flown by for her!
I also find myself thinking about all the time she's been there with marnie and paige to help them in ways they don't even realize.
She was radiant on earth, it's hard to imagine how much more radiant she is now.
I miss her so much.every time I have those thoughts, my heart pains for paige and marn.we do a lot of fun things with them like game nights and stuff. It really does my heart good to see them laugh and have fun.tonight a bunch of us are going to do a madison date. We are having dinner at wendy's and going to play laser tag-things she would've loved. It will be good.
To Maddie, thanks for the exceptional person you were and for all the amazing work you are must surely engaged in at this time. We love and miss you.

HAIRCUT

2011-09-12T09:12:00.001-06:00

SO I WAS TIRED OF JOEY'S CUTE SLOBBERY FINGERS PULLING MY HAIR OUT. I ASKED KRIS IF SHE COULD CHOP IT AND RESCUE ME. I DIDN'T EVEN CARE IF IT TURNED OUT CUTE, THAT WOULD JUST BE ICING ON THE CAKE!

BEFORE

ONLY A PORTION OF WHAT SHE CUT

AFTER..HAPPY 31ST TO ME!! THANKS KRIS!

ICING ON THE CAKE!!

Blessing Day

2011-09-11T08:45:00.005-06:00

To Joey, my handsome boy,

We are all so blessed to have you. Your generous smiles and vibrant blue eyes delight me each day. Daddy loves your cheerful personality and cheerful heart. You have brought us so much happiness. Today is your blessing day. Many special people will be there to support you. Many love you and want to see you grow healthy and strong and be successful in this life.

As your mother, what I wish most for you is for you to know your Heavenly Father and Savior and for you to know you are a son of God and you are here in this life to grow and be tested. This is how you can be able to live with them again.

I love you I love you! I love to put my cheek against yours and kiss your sweet nose and lips. You are my boy and I am so happy you are here.

No Greater Work

2011-08-10T15:56:00.002-06:00

Russ and I have the opportunity of being in the Jenny Phillips fireside group, I've been in it since me and Russ were dating. Jenny is an amazing artist and friend. She has a gift of writing music that shares her testimony through the powerful influence of the spirit. She travels around the world doing firesides and has touched many. She is in Taiwan now showing this video. She actually created this video and song with this trip in mind. They are having a big problem there with women deciding not to bear children, some crazy trend like 70% or something. She is a great example to me of seeing perspective through life.

I echo Jenny's feelings about motherhood, there is no greater honor I can receive. Every woman will have the opportunity to receive this treasured role, if not in this life, then in the life to come. Take a minute to go to her website to view this video, be sure to listen to the words.

http://www.youtube.com/jennyphillipsmusic

CHOOSE TO BE PURE

2011-07-27T13:46:00.002-06:00

Videos like this give me courage to raise my children in today's society:

CHOOSE TO BE PURE

https://lds.org/youth/video/i-choose-to-be-pure?lang=eng

Joey's Birth story

2011-07-22T18:07:00.004-06:00

What a wonderful boy! I am excited to tell you the story of how you were born. My due date with you was May 27th. I was late with Gracee so I figured I'd be late with you. My pregnancy with you was very different though. You moved around a ton! I felt you mostly on my right side. Your legs and feet were so prominent that there were times we could just grab your foot between our fingers and shift it back and forth, it was really amazing. You had a good time interacting while you were in my tummy. A couple of times while we were having game night, you did it with Marnie Stevens, a young woman in our ward and a good friend. Marnie lost her sister, Madison, last year. It was right around the time I found out I was pregnant with you. Maddie was a very amazing girl. We told her mom, Paige, that if you were a girl, we would name you Madison, after her. We felt like she was probably up there rocking you in her heavenly rocker. You were probably late because you wanted more time playing with Maddie! I didn't get as nauseous with you the first 3 months as I did with Gracee. I also had almost zero swelling with you, probably because I wasn't at a desk job this time around. I didn't stick out much with either of you, so we were all pretty surprised to see how long you were.

Okay, so on Friday June 3rd, we went in for my last prenatal visit. Even though I was a week late, I wasn't real anxious to get you out, not like I was with Gracee. I just wanted you to come when you were good and ready. Your dad was pretty anxious to meet you though, so he encouraged me to have them do some tricks on me to get labor going. When they tried those tricks on me with Gracee, they didn't work, so I didn't think much of it. However, the midwives' tricks were much more effective, because before they stripped my membranes, they used water and a catheter to help me dilate to a 4. That night my usual Braxton hicks were starting to slowly morph into slightly uncomfortable contractions. dad and I went to meet with a member of the stake presidency so he could call your dad back into the bishopric. he made a joke that he hoped the news wouldn't put me into labor. After that, we went on a walk to talk about that and work offers your dad has been considering. There were a couple times that I had to stop during a contraction but they were still really far apart and not real painful. We dropped by Paige's house on the way home to pick something up. We stayed for about 40 minutes, her sister Shelley made us some ginger tea. It was very spicy and my contractions continued to feel more real. Oh, and the night before this, (Thursday night) grandma and uncle Steve were watching a movie downstairs. I had a yeast infection and had decided to use a suppository with tea tree oil, olive oil, meleluca, and on guard. The problem is, there wasn't a high enough concentration of the olive oil, so it burned really bad. I think the agony was what sent me into full fledged labor. I spent the entire night with pretty heavy contractions that were about 12 minutes apart. I feel like I was blessed to have a better sleep than I should have with all that going on. I fell into deep sleeps in between every contraction. In the morning, daddy skipped class and stayed with me. He took Gracee to Aunt Jen's and cleaned and then when things started getting really intense, Grandma Peterman warmed me up some Hawaiian Haystacks for lunch and dad stayed with me. we called the birth center to tell them my contractions were 5 to 6 minutes apart, but that I was laying down to get some rest and so they were only 10 minutes apart. They were getting increasingly intense pretty fast so I asked if we could come in. The midwives said it would take them an hour to get there!! I felt frustrated they didn't tell me they'd need an hour warning, but it went by pretty fast.

Once we got to the birth center, I was pretty tired but felt revved up all at the same time. They started the tub running and I got into the clothes I wanted to wear in the tub and put a robe on. Your dad and grandma had to help me a lot with this part because the contractions made it hard to get dressed and stuff. They came and tried to put an IV in each arm because I tested positive for Group B strep and the treatment is IV antibiotics every 4 hours OR injections of antibiotics every four hours. The IV is said to be a little better so we told them that they had two chances to poke me, and if my veins ran away (like they always do), then we would go with plan B, which is the injections plus a vaginal cleanse every 4 hours. The IV didn't work. The injections were in my hips and were pretty agonizing since I was already into the intense stage of labor. As soon as we were done with that ordeal I gladly leapt into the inviting tub between contractions to finally get comfortable again! I was already to an 8 by that time. When they told me that news I was pretty happy and surprised. It seemed a lot quicker than my first labor. However, despite that early progress, it still took me a little under 4 hours from that point to get you out. I dilated to a 9 and to a 10 in no time, but still didn't feel any pressure below the pelvis with you or the urge to push. Finally, towards the end, they checked and decided the problem was the there was a big bulge of the sack you were in right in the opening, keeping your head from dropping any lower. So they broke my water (the sack) and I immediately felt a relief of pressure. Then I felt your head take up the extra space and felt you drop all the way. Somewhere around this time too, I felt little "shimmyings" in different areas like my sacrum and in little corners of my pelvis. It was really cool. This is one of the reasons I like natural birth. I can feel and experience every part of your entrance into this world. It makes me feel in touch with you, my baby, and my body. It's the culmination of this connection we'd had over the months. Well, more like the beginning of our next chapter of connection.

I also wanted to tell you the atmosphere in the room while I was in labor with you. It was a really large bathroom. The lights were dim and there was a little natural light from the window coming in. Your dad was completely engaged and involved, helping me through every contraction. Grandma Peterman was doing the same, she was also getting me stuff to drink and nuts to eat. My good friend Emily came up to Utah and was planning on being my doula. She had to go back to AZ for a family emergency a few days before you came. She helped me get centered in the days before you came and helped instill confidence in me. She was a huge support to me in Gracee's birth too. Grandma Hannig and Kenzie were there too. Kenzie took a lot of photos and video. Aunt Stef was there reading one of her favorite talks to me by Elder Holland. She also provided some comic relief in the earlier stages of the intense labor. We brought the ipod and listened to my massage track on it. It was very peaceful and everything I could have hoped for a birthing atmosphere. The two midwives were really great because they didn't hover. Since they saw I had the support I needed, they just stayed away and kept checking in on the progress. They only became a strong presence towards the last hour, when it was needed.

Anyway, after they broke my water, and you did your last "shimmyings", out you came!!! The cord was twisted across your neck (not around) and across your shoulder and back, so you didn't come tumbling out the way Gracee did. It took several pushes, with you hanging half out in the water, with breaks in between. The laid you on my chest and I immediately shed tears of joy, gratitude, relief, and exhaustion. I loved that first embrace! You kept looking up at me with those pure eyes. I immediately noticed and loved the color of your strawberry blonde hair. Similar to Gracee's birth, you didn't cry as fiercely as they expected and so they got worried at first. You just looked up at me and gazed into my eyes, then you'd let out a few cries and then gaze up at me again. Every time I put my hand on your temple or forehead, you would immediately calm down again. You are 7 weeks old as I am writing this part, and you are still the same way--any gentle touch on your temple or cheek usually calms you down. You are very sweet.

You began smiling and laughing way sooner than I expected. You were just about 3 days old when you would look in our eyes and smile. Your laugh came a few days later. Some people say it is just gas when babies do that, but this is different. You look straight into our eyes, engage and then start to interact with your charming chuckles that make your chest bounce and your dimples show. It is so endearing.

We are so glad to have you home, Joey. Joseph Russell Hannig. What a name. We love you. Thank you for the sweet, beautiful, and pure spirit you've brought to us. A lot of times when you are laughing I feel like you are looking at your angels behind my head. I don't know what or who you see, but I know the veil is so thin with you right now. It is an honor to be your mother. You will teach me many things. The thing I desire most to teach you is that you are a noble son of our Heavenly Father. He loves you and the Savior is always here for you. I hope you will become well acquainted with them both through the Holy Spirit of revelation throughout your life here on earth.

Love,

Your mother

Oh the things you say...

2011-07-21T14:00:00.003-06:00

Me: "Okay Gracee remember, when you wear undies in bed it means you have to stay dry. Otherwise we have to wear a diaper."

Gracee: "I can't wear diaper, I'm allergic!"

We owe this conversation a big thanks to grandma Peterman for saving the safety kids tapes safe all these years and for the tape player that Graceee uses to listen and sing to it about 3 hours every day!

Moments that matter most

2011-06-18T10:59:00.001-06:00

This video was just what I needed today, check it out:

http://lds.org/pages/moments?lang=eng

The four of us

2011-06-10T23:26:00.006-06:00

A journal entry written to Gracee recently:

Gracee,

This has been a hard transition for you and I. Normally, we are the center of each other's little worlds during the daytime--now we share it with your little brother. It's been a little tricky...A couple of days after Joey was born, I was lying in you bed singing to you. We started the first song and you were trying to sing it with me but kept making that frowny face you make when you are starting to cry but trying not to. After the first song, you said with a shaky voice, "make Gracee sad to sing with mama?" And I knew instantly what you meant by that because I was feeling similarly. I asked you why. You were struggling to find the words. I said, "Does it make you sad because you miss me?" You said, "Uh huh." I said I missed you too. I said we could play tea party together just you and me the next morning. I also said we could lay together for naps again tomorrow.

The validation and expression of your feelings seemed to take a huge weight off your chest. You gave a huge sigh and seemed much more content after that.

It was such a sweet moment. You are so good at communicating your feelings and needs. I just love you so much--it's hard to even describe how much.

(end of entry)

She has been increasingly more adjusted ever since this moment. A couple days ago, we went just the four of us, up the canyon. We had a dinner picnic and played at the park and threw rocks into Provo river, Joey slumbering peacefully in his car seat by the river. Russ's paternity leave and my time off work has been a real blessing and has helped to let it click for all of us what it feels like to be a new size--the four of us. She's also enjoying Joey's new-found alertness the past couple days. I think that combined with her realization that he really just eats and sleeps and that other than that, things are mostly just the same as they were before--has helped her to feel okay with it. Now let's see if we can get mommy to a point where I can lift her onto swings, pull her in the wagon, and take her on walks...and we'll be good to go! We've depended so much on our friends and family right now to fill in those little gaps to put little bursts of fun into Gracee's days. We are sooooooooooooo thankful for the help!

Love, the four of us

He's finally here!!

2011-06-10T23:16:00.004-06:00

Joseph Russell Hannig

June 4, 2011 8 lbs. 5 oz., 22 inches

Joey, we are so excited to meet you and finally feel your sweet cheeks and kiss your little face. You are so good at finding your hands! I love your strawberry blonde hair! Even if it turns dark and I only get to enjoy this color for a few weeks, I'm soaking it in. We love you we love you! Gracee is so excited to have you here. She loved you even when you were still in my tummy.

Birth story to come.

Dora Dictar and fun friends

2011-06-03T10:44:00.003-06:00

This is one of many moments Gracee has shared with "her" beloved "Dora Dictar". It's actually not hers, it's her friend Nora's. She thinks it is hers. Every time we go to Heather's house, she runs down the stairs to get it. She asks for it for days. She asks for it first thing when she wakes up and at random times throughout the day.

This is Gracee being sad because it got taken away...don't worry though, we have one for her to have of her very own in the trunk...just waiting for baby Joey to come. She doesn't know about it, but it will be her present when we bring Joey home. So really, it's his fault that she doesn't get to have the Dora Deetar safe in her warm embrace yet.

My good friend Emily came to visit us Utahns. She left before we got any pix together, but luckily we got some pix of her sweet boys. Mo and Gracee had fun together.
Doesn't Mo look adorable in this "ra ra apron"?
This is Gracee smiling right after crying really hard that momma was holding Lauren's new baby. Her name is Addie. Cute huh? Congrats Laur! She and I were both due May 27th....she had hers early=)
Gracee's cousin, Benjamin, had his berfday party at Macey's during their pirate carnival. Macey's does tons of cool stuff like this. Since we were pirates for halloween, me and Gracee both came dressed up. She had such fun!

a week past "guess" date...

2011-06-03T10:11:00.002-06:00

I was telling my mom that I feel like everyday is my birthday or something because I am constantly getting texts, calls, and emails from people asking if I've had my baby yet. Thanks everybody for remembering and caring!! He's still in my tummy though.

sleeping...a talent that she always has posessed

2011-05-08T00:31:00.003-06:00

We went to go get Gracee up from her nap the other day for church and this is what we found:This puzzle kept meowing at her every few seconds and she slept right through it.
She had emptied every toy drawer completely onto her bed. Little pens, marker caps, lids to play dough, every single toy was on her bed to keep her company during her short pre-church nap!

busy hands....

2011-05-03T21:45:00.008-06:00

Here are just a few reasons I have kinda dropped out of the virtual world of FB and checking up on blog friends for a while....these top two shots are from Joey's nursery. I did a Dr. Seuss theme. There are still a lot of Gracee's things on the wall in the picture, but there will be a few more pictures to come...it's been really fun!
Russ and I made some fun things at Color Me Mine.
Mom and Russ's hands probably did more on this restored rocker than I did, but it was my idea and I am proud of it! Thanks mom and Russ for helping! (This used to be brown with green cushions)
Joey's sweet Dr. Seuss quilt. Thanks Kenzie and Heather for your invaluable help! It was much easier than I thought it'd be to make, thanks to you two!
We're doing a hula girl island theme for Gracee's new big girl room--to make it way exciting for her! More pics to come, but this has been really fun too!
This is Gracee's lil reading nook. Notice the turquoise bookshelf to the left, Russ and Kim helped me restore this baby. Thanks guys!
Pillows I made for my dear friends, Paige and Marnie. They lost their beloved Madison last year and Marnie is getting ready to move out, so I wanted to complete them before she left. These pillows are matching and will help remind them of their blessings awaiting them, it says: "Every tear today will be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."-Elder Wirthlin. As they are transitioning away from being together, I hope these pillows will be a small sense of comfort to them to hug and even cry into when needed.
Russ's late anniversary gift: autographed pictures of this year's amazing BYU basketball team. We were able to take some fantastic pictures sitting front row at one of the games. Our friend Jason made it all possible, thanks Jason for everything!

And last but not least, my father-in-law and brother, Steve, are the only people who have asked to step into Susie's salon. It's not much, but I like to do it for them, and it saves them a few bucks.
My father-in-law is the cutest. He let me style his hair all crazy when I was done! Love you pops!

becoming more real to me...

2011-05-03T21:04:00.003-06:00

Just got some prego pics taken tonight!! And only 23 days to go....
I have to point out the ADORABLE carseat cover that my sweet friend Kenzie made! I'm in love with it! That is the animal print with the blue buttons. I also now have a nursing apron and the adorable owl material is for the diaper wipe case I'm going to make. These other things here are gifts from my friend Jenny and Snuggle Buddy Bunny from my friend Diane.

Picturing his little body in these things really does make it more real for me. Just thought I'd share my excitement. Thanks for reading.

Our little lady

2011-04-25T20:35:00.000-06:00

Gracee has grown up exponentially since this whole big sister thing has clicked!!

Gracee spends 75% of her time with this pink beat up treasure--honing her nurturing big sister skills.Me: "Gracee, are you going to be a big sister?"

Gracee: "Yah! Just like Dora!"

Baby Mine

2011-04-22T20:08:00.005-06:00

Gracee girl, I love you. My eyes are wet with tears. Let me describe to you the permanent image just taken in my heart while putting you down for bed tonight.

We have our bedtime routine where after scriptures, stories and prayer, we turn off the light and I sing you a medley: Gracee's song (from the tune of You are My Sunshine), I am a Child of God, Angel Friends (really called Angel lullaby), and then I lay you down in bed and cover you up and sing you the next two songs while we are both laying down and I get to stroke your sweet face. You usually look away or close your eyes during this part. But this time you looked straight into my eyes, our faces just a few inches apart. It's amazing what it does to my emotions when you look into my eyes like that. As I sat there gazing into your sparkling eyes, I sat there thinking how THIS is true happiness. I felt a rush of gratitude for a home to live in, for our comforts, for you and for dad. I just felt--as I have many times before--there is no greater happiness and fulfillment than this. I am tearing up again just as I write this. The two extra songs I sang were Angel Lullaby and Baby Mine. I sat there thinking about the words of those songs that to me, speak of the desires of a mother to protect their children and of peace. The words in Baby Mine say, "let your eyes sparkle and shine" and as I sang that your eyes were dark in the moonlight and sparkling up at me. Your look was peaceful and content. It made me so happy and honored to be your mother. I can't even imagine a greater honor. And as the lyrics say, "Baby Mine...rest your head close to my heart, never to part, baby of mine." We will never part. Thank you Gracee Ann. I love you.

Love, your mother

Our second FIFTH ANNIVERSARY trip!!

2011-03-01T14:27:00.008-07:00

No, it's not how it sounds. Me and Russ didn't get married to each other twice and we don't have two 5th anniversaries. But we did celebrate our 5th twice...sort of. Last year we decided to take a cruise with our friends, Jason and Kenz, and call it our 5th anniversary trip. It was aout 8 months early though, but we knew/hoped I'd be pregnant when the real thing rolled around so we wanted to go when I wasn't pregnant. But me being the sentimental FOOL (that was for you mom!) I am, we decided to have a little getaway on the real day too.Our "first celebration" of five years...just a little early! --summer 2010
Carnival Splendor Mexican Riviera (yes the one that got stranded a few months later with some other poor travelers...luckily it wasn't us!) Doesn't Russ look SO HANDSOME here??? Just admit it!
Just a little brisk xc skiing at Soldier Hollow, just minutes away from our Bed and Breakfast, Invited Inn. It was fantastic! Russ doesn't love the concept of doing something active amdist nature (whatever the weather conditions) the way I do but he still enjoyed getting out and doing something different...he said so=)

dinner at Snake Creek Grill in Heber. Russ's meal had blue cheese on it (eckh!)...they coded it in the description by calling it gargonzola!! Apparently neither me or Russ are familiar with cheese lingo, cuz we both hate blue cheese and didn't realize that his dish would be COATED in it! It was pretty icky. But we both like my salmon!
Our first date was on a drive up to Heber where we went to Dairy Keen. We love going on drives together and talking or playing name that tune with the radio. So after Russ's unsettling meal, he decided to get full on a sentimental Dairy Keen treat instead of a good meal!
Then I surprised him by taking him to Midway Ice Castles, also minutes away from our fantastic bed and breakfast. It was such an amazing display of creativity and originality! You should check it out, if you are local. Here are just a couple of many amazing pics we captured.

I gave him a note for each day for 5 days preceding our anniversary. They were all little clues on what fun thing we were doing that day. (I'll do a post on that later). This was the clue for the anniversary day. The quote is from the website for the ice castles, and I thought it perfectly described our relationship.

On the day of our anniversary my prince gave to me...

the most beautiful moment of my life at 1:40pm on the most sunny and warm winter day we had seen yet that year. You have also given me a relationship that is beautiful because of its "ever-evolving nature." That is why tonight I am taking you to a structure that is beautiful for those same reasons.

I love you sweetheart, happy 5th anniversary!

This is just a little shot of our room. The thing that was so cool about this place is it had a sauna and steam room in your room! How fun is that? The owners are named Bill and Susi, what cute names! They offer an hors devours hour where they serve drinks made to order (she uses a Blendtec for her smoothies and doesn't put any of that sweet crap in them!) and cute little classy hors devours. The breakfast the next morning was very classy and they served drinks made to order then too. They stayed and chatted with us for about 45 minutes, they are a really interesting and neat couple. I said I would spread the word about them. We love B&B's with character, this one will go on our list of winners for sure!

The next day we were able to do some sealings too. It was such a fun and reflective 24 hours. Thanks honey! Here's to another great year.

A dose of emotional honesty...

2011-02-11T20:27:00.012-07:00

So Gracee must've been peaking over my shoulder when I wrote that last post about her always trying to do good. ...yah we've had a major week of experimentation with boundaries and I'm soooo tired! She's so darn cute though, I just keep praying for more patience! I know I say this all the time but I SO admire mothers with two or more kids! Wow, I'm just exhausted. Anyway here are some pics of what has been going on over here.

25 weeks and counting!! He won't stop moving, what does that tell ya?

finger painting with Aunt Jesse (see FB for video)

Potty date with mom and dad because she filled up her

second potty chart!! Slide and ice cream!Woohoo! She

really seems to be solidifying this potty stuff. Phew!

Oh and I love that she likes to be girlie!! She always wants

me to paint her nails with the kit that Gramma Peterman

left here. I even put a sticker on today and so far she has

kept it on--woohoo!!!

Dry!!!

2011-02-01T21:49:00.004-07:00

This beautiful person successfully stayed dry during her nap today!! She begged to wear her undies during her nap instead of a diaper, so I hesitantly put a towel down and explained to her to try and hold it til after her nap...Woo hoo! She got TWO stickers for that one! Children are so amazing. She is so patient with me and really tries so hard to be good. Sure there are those testing moments, but overall, she has a desire to do good. Thanks Gracee, for making my day today.

The perfect morning...

2011-01-25T21:26:00.002-07:00

This was the perfect end to a perfect morning/afternoon with Gracee before heading out to work. One of the best. And yes, those are big girl undies you see on her...making progress=) go to this link http://www.facebook.com/video/?id=604500485 to see "the perfect morning". There are two videos from that day.

(It was too big for me to put on blogger)

Nikon D3100

2011-01-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks honey for my new camera!! I haven't edited these photos or anything, but even unedited, they show off how wonderful this camera is. The pictures are so crisp.

It's a boy!!

2011-01-06T10:02:00.002-07:00

Yes, for those of you who didn't catch my hint a few posts back, we are pregnant!! We are so so excited. We've had two official ultra sounds telling us it's a boy! They didn't give us a disk so I just took a pic of the prints. Pretty great huh?

I'm dabbling in nursery themes and/or color schemes. The first one that I've thought of is doing just a color theme: red and aqua. Is that girlie? I have white bead board, crib, and shelves. I want to have the curtains and quilt I make match. I have quilt material that kind of is a nusery rhyme theme. any sites you can send me to that while prime my creativity pump???

Oh the things you say...

2010-11-23T07:44:00.004-07:00

Gracee talks a ton, and with that comes some really funny and cute things.

10. bye bye ___________ (to everything and everyONE! She is constantly saying bye bye to everything, ever since Grandma Peterman left home to AZ after a long summer stay.

9. "you mama" (this is her way of saying "I love you too)

8. ___________night night? (she asks this when ANYBODY is closing their eyes for any reason or has their head down.)

7. "too too chrain!!" (This is said in response to the sound of a train or the sight of a semi, a truck pulling something, or any vehicle longer than a pickup truck)

6. "too too chrain (jabber jabber) far (jabber jabber) see?" Me: "yes Gracee, the choo choo train is to far away to see right now huh?" Gracee: "Uh huh"

5. Me: "Gracee, do you want to go downstairs with me to switch the laundry?" Gracee: "uh umm.... (long pause) YAH! She considers every question negotiable and by taking a while to think it through before answering, it's almost like she is letting us know she is her own person.

4. "Pretty singing (a small pause for emphasis), Mama!" She'll do anything she can to get me to sing something and then finish off with that nice compliment.

3. The word "fesin" means "this one"--so clearly, it can mean several things. "Table...fesin. Ball fesin. Blanket fesin..." She lovingly taps whatever it is she is referring to as she chants.

2. (From Dorah the Explorer:) "Gracee, say 'swiper no swipin'!'" Gracee: "NO SWIPIN' NO!"

1. My favorite is when she'll run up and grab me with a squeeze and say "WUV!!!!" (meaning, of course, love.)

what we've been up to...

2010-11-16T22:09:00.004-07:00

Having a Happy Halloween with my pirate bunch. Gracee got really good at saying "Arrrr!"

Running around with this little fireball.
getting together with some of my college roomies and VERY dear friends! Thanks for the visit Care!
laughing at Gracee...a lot! she always does funny stuff like this! she wanted to feel the cool wet wipe on her face that is on the floor under her head here.
i love this face! she is always laughing, talking, making jokes and singing and asking us to sing. Oh and she's going to be a big sister!!!

My friend Maddie

2010-10-08T15:05:00.005-06:00

We lost a dear friend yesterday. My heart is aching and my spirit is weak. Madison Mecum was one of the purest spirits I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I always kind of felt like she was too good and pure for the rest of us, too good for this world.
She was a hit by a car. The driver was a classmate of hers, both just 13 years old. I can't tell you how many times the thoughts have run through my head, "if that girl just didn't pick up her aunt's car keys," "if Maddie had only gone to her own bus stop that day," "if she had only been walking a few steps behind where she was at that time..."
I know those thoughts don't help. I am just so sad. I'm sad for me. Sad for her family. Sad for our neighborhood. I am mostly sad for her family though. We love this sweet family. They live just up the street a few houses. We have them over for dinner and games, Maddie and her sister are two Young Women I serve in my calling. Maddie is one of Gracee's favorite babysitters. Her older sister, Marnie comes over often just to talk with me and Russ about life. Her mom, Paige is also my dear friend who does massage/piano lesson trades with me. The Mecum girls are very important to us. Their dad died in a car crash in 2005. Paige and Marnie only have each other now. They could use financial help and have an account set up for donations. If that is something any of you are interested in helping with, let us know.
I know we will see Maddie again someday, for that I look forward to. I know she is much happier where she is with her dad. I know all of that, but it doesn't change the fact that I am really sad. Sad for us, not for her. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation. I know this pain would be much more hopeless without the knowledge that our loving Savior and Heavenly Father have prepared a way that we can all be together with them again.

We miss you Maddie. We love you. 'Til we meet again.

My birthday

2010-09-10T14:49:00.011-06:00

I got the idea from my brother, Scotty to celebrate my birthday for a whole week! What a great idea! I figured my 30th was a great year to start. Here are some of the things we did at random times in the day, whenever we could fit them in:

My birthday week started with a family dinner at the Hannigs for me and our niece, Emrie. My sis-in-law made me brownies with nuts-my fav! Thanks Ryanne!

Went to our first BYU home game! Go Cougs! (Thx for the tix Smiths!)

Went to dinner

Enjoyed another tandem bike ride in the canyon (an annual tradition on my bday) but this year we did 23 miles! Woohoo! That was about as adventurous as we got, because all of the adventurous stuff would've been mostly just adventurous for the pocket book!

(Russ must REALLY love me to do this every year!)

Thx for the lunch Kenz! What a sweetie.

Went to Timpanogos story telling festival

Went to WAFFLE CONE Wednesday at TCBY and took cute pix of Gracee playing at the mall

Watched episodes of The Closer

Had a game night!!

Went and did a temple session together

Did and FHE at Discovery park with the Smiths with homemade ice cream, yum! Thanks Kenz!

My friend, Kim, threw me a shin dig at Kenzie's house where we dressed up from the eras that I've been alive in. (ok, I confess...we cheated and included the 70's! The 70's are irresistible!)

Isn't Russ's tough face so cute here?

Thanks Kim and Kenz, you guys rock! So do those "mom jeans" Kenz is wearing..yes!

The most touching thing ever, I was completely blown away--Kenzie made me a book with a bunch of people who'd responded to her with "30 things they love about Sus". I cried when I opened it and realized what it was and all the people who responded. I was so deeply touched by everybody's words. I will cherish it always. I know I will read it during low times in my life and be lifted and reminded of what amazing people grace my life. Thank you so much Kenzie and everybody who was able to add to the book!

Lunch with dad

2010-09-02T23:20:00.003-06:00

Here is our first try with using video on our new camera. We have this tradition we've just started where almost every day me and Gracee go and bring lunch to Russ. It has been good for her to actually see us all three together a little more often, sad, but true! ENJOY, more to come!

I'm a big girl now!

2010-09-02T23:05:00.006-06:00

This picture does not do justice to how FILTHY my hands and legs were!!

Hey guys! This is me after having SUCCESSFULLY changed my bike tire BY MYSELF! I've gotten flats several times while on the surface streets and have had to call my dad, my father in law and even got picked by my father in law once because neither of us could get it on right. I also was helped once by a fellow road biker who was driving to work and had mercy on my poor pitiful figure alongside the road, fussing with it. I even watched a youtube tutorial after the last frustrating experience. I'm so proud of myself. And it only took me 24 minutes! (I say that in jest cuz I know that is incredibly slow...)

Focus Simplification Plan

2010-08-29T16:09:00.002-06:00

Here is an excerpt from a recent journal entry:

I pray VERY regularly to have help balancing my life. I think I might have received a little answer to that prayer today. I just read a few verses that contain the words "wisdom" and "order". It is apparent to me that this is the Lord's way. I like to do so many things. I am the main one that puts it all on my plate. I was looking at my older neighbor's vegetable garden yesterday, having thoughts of longing and regret that my garden didn't look more like his. I was having regrets that I didn't plant sooner, garden more, or take a gardening class. All of the sudden, in the forefront of my mind--louder than the other thoughts--I thought, "He's in a totally different stage of life than you!!!!! This isn't your season for perfecting gardening. Go ahead and dabble if you like, but stop comparing yourself to others!" I've had little thoughts like that before, but it hit me very profoundly yesterday. Here are a list of things I do/want to do with my spare time (not in order of relevance):

Home improvement projects and tasks, gardening, cleaning, and organization

guitar, piano, singing, harmonica

blogging

making online books/scrapbooks

massage profession

race training

scripture study

learning new recipes, baking all of our bread and granola

serving others

quilting/sewing

Now obviously, things like massage, scriptures, race training and service should and will take up the same amount of time every week. But the other things can definitely take their turns. I had this idea that I can focus on one major thing each month. I can work on those things during naptime and on free evenings where I am not working or spending time with Russ.

So far, I've been doing this for almost all of August. This has been deemed my "home improvement focus month". My house needed recovery after this crazy summer. We've been doing projects and I've been focusing on cleaning too.

It's been really good for me to choose a focus and only hone in on that during non Gracee and Russ time. I feel like it helps me see things in perspective throughout the day, so that instead of running to do a blog post while Gracee plays I will either dream up something for dinner or go play with her. I think Gracee has appreciated having a little more of my undivided attention too.

I might post some pictures of the projects up later. Anyway, thanks for reading, if you stuck with me through this whole thing! I'll keep you posted on my simplification efforts!

I need some ideas!!!

2010-08-12T14:15:00.000-06:00

Ok, folks. Does anybody know of some fun and exciting things to do for a 30th birthday?? I hiked Timp the morning of my 25th birthday. I'd do that again, but I want to be with Russ on my birthday, and he doesn't love to hike. My family suggested river rafting, which we are looking into--but might be hard to pull of since Russ has class at 6pm the night of my birthday. We normally go tandem biking in the canyon for my birthday--but I want to do something different since it's my 30th. I also suggested bungee jumping, hangliding, and sky diving--but Russ isn't crazy about those ideas either.

Any Ideas??

Tonsillectomy--lessons learned

2010-08-10T13:27:00.003-06:00

Okay, so I read quite a few informative blogs that helped me learn some tricks through my tonsillectomy recovery. I didn't want to write about the happenings each day while I was going through it, because I would've felt like a whiner. Now that I am through it, I want to blog about it so that others can learn some of the tips that I did.

Day 1-3

I felt very flu like and could barely make it 2 hours into my pain medication. I am allergic to Morphine and I get emotional on Lortab and I vomit with Percoset. I was given tylenol with codeine and some Perc with anti-nausea pills. Though it was a nice effort on my doctor's part, neither of those two kept me feeling human. I constantly felt shakey and flu like.

Day 3-4

I noticed bumps on these two days on my face. It turned into a rash once it reached my neck, chest and tummy. It was pretty mild. But once it had

a few days to run its course, my face started peeling off, the way people's faces do with acutane. Weird.

Day 5

On this morning, I decided to try to manage the pain without narcotics. I felt much more human, though I couldn't hardly eat or drink anything and was very weak and tired.

Day 6

I bled profusely this night because I think because I was trying to get phlegm out, or maybe because I got a massage earlier that day. The doctor's office said it was okay to get a massage, but I get pretty deep ones, that involve a lot of neck

stretches. It bled for about 10 minutes total, with me standing over the sink and gargling with water and spitting out tons and tons of blood. At one point, Gracee started screaming because the sounds I was making in the bathroom scared her. I had to come out with my hand under my chin to catch the blood and smile to her across the hallway to reassure her I was alright, then she was happy as a lark. The tip I learned that finally got the bleeding to stop was gargling with a huge glass of ice water.

Day 7

Maybe due to the bleeding episode the night before, I woke up this morning with pain too intense to handle without the help of narcotics. I took 2 more final doses of tylenol with codeine this day. I even hobbled over to a playgroup, where I didn't talk much and felt like I had the flu the whole time--but at least I was out of the house! It felt so good to at least pretend I felt good.

That night I remembered that I have a bunch of

DoTerra essential oils. I texted my friend who knows a ton about them and asked what she would suggest. I am so glad I did! Everything started to get better EXPONENTIALLY faster after I started doing what she said. She had me swishing and drinking water with the following oils and blends: On Guard, Lavendar, lemon, and Melaleuca. I would always finish off with the On Guard because it has clove in it, which numbs everything up REALLY well!

Day 8

This was my first full day doing the oils instead of narcotics. The oils worked so well that I didn't hardly even have to take any OTC medication either for the rest of my recovery.

Day 10

At this point I was feeling much better and stronger. I still writhed in pain when I ate though. Here is my next tip: I discovered the beauty of WATER PIK! My mom has one of these and let me use one of her apparatus'. I put it on slow flow half way through my meals and at the end of them. It helped clean out anything and everything that was stuck under the flaps, gouges, and whatever other shapes there were in my scabs. This was the point it which I really started regaining strength and energy because I was fully free to eat most whatever I wanted--providing it wasn't acidic.

Day 17

Scabs are completely off at this point. Throat still gets tired very easily and especially when I shout. The reason my talking swallowing, singing and eating muscles are so sore and tired is because he had to cut deep into my mouth muscles to get those babies out because I'm an adult.

Day 19

Went to post op appointment today. Doc says things look good. The tightness and slight soreness is normal for another month. I have no restrictions--I can even sing again!!! Yea! I can shout and talk loud and for a long time =) if I want, with no soreness.

Happy Birthday Sharon

2010-07-28T07:18:00.000-06:00

As many of you probably know, I am a massage therapist. I have been able to continue working at the clinic where I did my apprenticeship. My instructor is also the owner of the clinic, her name is Sharon. (She is on the left). Sharon has been through a lot of hard things in her life, including supporting her husband after he became a quadrapelegic due to a car accident. He eventually lost his life do to the complications of the accident. Sharon is a beautiful person who has sought healing in her own life, and gets joy out of helping others do the same.

We don't get to talk much because of our work schedules, but I sure love her. She is so flexible and understanding of my responsibilities at home in this chapter of my life and allows me to work VERY part time. I love that she gets that about me.

She loves Gracee and came to her birthday party last year, here is a picture of them at her party.
Gracee loves Grammy Sharon, even though she doesn't get to see her that much. Happy Birthday Shar! We love you!!

Hannig Adventures

2010-07-26T12:08:00.001-06:00

Gracee had so much fun while we were gone to New York and Vermont!! Each day she got to play with Grandma and a different friend came to pick her up to play. Here's the rundown:

Wednesday - Thursday

Gracee went to the park with Rosie.

We took a red eye trip to Vermont.

see our red eyes??

That day we went to Joseph Smith's birthplace and then did a stake missionary fireside. We got to give out free CD's to everybody afterwards.

Friday

Gracee played with her cousins at Aunt Jenn's house. My mom said she was so excited when she dropped her off and clearly had so much fun!

As you can see, Russ was the trip clown. Though it was very tiring for him, I think he enjoyed his "role".

We drove to Fayette, NY where we saw the Whitmer farm and then did a performance at a local girls camp.

a. We got to mingle with the girls before and after the performance, it was really cool. That night we all played Pictionary at the hotel in a big conference room--very fun.

Saturday

Gracee played with Kimberlee, they went swimming at her neighborhood pool. They had so much fun together!

We went to went to see the Grandin Printing Press and did a session at the Palmyra temple and then to the Hill Cumorah pageant that night--such a powerful day!

Sunday

Gracee played with Pam after church this day. They went for a walk to the park.

We went to church and had a lovely picnic and then to the Sacred Grove for several hours. This was definitely a highlight of the trip. We had a testimony meeting at the top of Hill Cumorah. Then we had a BBQ at our host family's house.

Monday

Gracee got to play with Heather and Nora in the morning and the she got to swim with Lee in the afternoon!

This is the day we made our trek home. Though it was mainly uneventful, there were some fun things like people doing the worm and Russian dancing at the airport. And I got to share my testimony and a Book of Mormon with a really sweet girl from Taiwan on the plane ride home.

tonsil fun

2010-07-25T13:31:00.002-06:00

I got my tonsils out on Wednesday.

This was after they blew out two veins and I witnessed my blood squirting all down my arm and onto the floor. It really hurt my pride in my view of myself that I have good veins. But hey, they told me to come dehydrated, so I did!!

Russ and mom have been so great. This is my first day weaning myself off the narcotics. I actually have color in my face again. Wish me luck. Just know, my uncomfortable state is the reason why I've been blogging and catching up on everyone else's blogs. So no matter how uncomfortable I am, I guess let's appreciate this time we have together. =)

"diss"??

2010-07-24T07:51:00.000-06:00

Something we love about Gracee is that she is very affectionate. She loves to give "disses".

Here she is, starting very coy

(i'm walking backwards during these shots, she's coming for me)

Pucker time!

She came and kissed the camera lense!

Her cousin Susie

Grandma

I love it when she grabs his face like this, he gets more kisses when he's shaved;)

with "Bubba"

Mammallama

2010-07-22T07:00:00.003-06:00

This is my mom. She's been helping us out this summer and has been letting us help her out a little too. We know she is homesick for AZ, but we're so glad to have her visit us. It's nice of the AZ family to share her with us a little these last two summers.

I was inspired my a blog post one of my friends put up about her mom's visit. Most of this visit she has been pretty sad most of the days because she is grieving the recent loss of her husband. But recently she's gotten to visit my brother's family up north a ways, we've had several more get togethers with the local grandkids, and just had a short visit from my sister Steph and her family. She has seemed more like the old mom. Lighter, easier to laugh, and more driven and energetic. I know she is still going through the grieving process, but it sure is exciting to have days where she laughs so easily.

And she catches fun little moments like this on camera, she's good at that.

And like this.

And this.

This is us with my adorable nephew Jarom when he visited. We took him to the Joseph Smith movie. We are both very touched by that movie and have a goal to go see it with Russ before she goes back.

Confessions of a loser

2010-07-16T18:12:00.005-06:00

Written in the front cover of my scripture journal is the heading: "The first things I'll ask when I get to heaven". The first thing on the list says I will ask where my cell phone went to that I lost back in 2007. When I lose things, Russ isn't surprised. In fact, I even lost the ipod he gave me for Christmas one year. I recently found it in a discreet pocket of one of our duffel bags--it was lost for about 3 years!!

I've also broken 2 phones, 2 cars and 2 cameras now. So we don't have a camera. I don't really deserve to have one--but we've been saving up to get one. My mom let us borrow her camera when we went to Vermont and New York to tour church history sites with the Jenny Phillip's choir group we are blessed enough to be a part of. Guess what? I lost her camera. I didn't even get the chance to take even ONE picture before I lost it!! It makes me sick. Anyway, needless to say, we replaced her camera and are once again...saving up.

Luckily, a bunch of people in our tour group took pictures so I'll be able to post them. They didn't lose or break their camera...they probably never have. It's okay, I still have other redeeming qualities.

My sister Steph and her family are in town and then I get my tonsils out the day after they leave...so if I don't post for a while, that is why.

what I've been doing while I haven't been blogging vol. 2

2010-07-01T15:02:00.002-06:00

A CRUISE!!! For our (very) early 5th anniversary, we knew we wanted to go to Hawaii or on a cruise. We went on Carnival to the Mexican Riviera. The alcohol bilboard in the background is VERY representative of the types of activities on the cruise! There wasn't a lot to do in the evenings--other than drink--so we just relaxed.
Here is my 9am ice cream cone. Waffle cones are one of my favorite treats. Everybody kept laughing at me. I was so excited to finally find one that I didn't care what time it was. Okay so I know everybody needs a cruise. There is not one person that wouldn't benefit from a vacation, right? So I am not claiming we were anymore deserving than any other hard working person...but I must say WE REALLY REALLY NEEDED THIS! It was totally worth whatever sacrifices it took us to get there. I am especially referring to Russ. He is such a hard lil worker. He is working full time with a lot of responsibility and working on getting his MBA too. He also has a taxing church calling and helps with the yard and is a VERY attentive father. I love nothing more than to see him relaxed and acting all crazy (a side few see) with family or close friends. It just fills my heart. That was probably my most favorite thing about the cruise(that and not having to cook, clean, or meal plan). We could have not done any excursions and just relaxed and played in the water and I would've loved it.
We played in the waves all day this day...it was so much fun!!!

They made us towel animals every night...the elephant was my favorite!

I GOT SO SICK OF EATING!!!!!!!!!!! ECKH!

En route to Long Beach--that was where we ported from.
We went with our good friends, Jason and Mackenzie

See, doesn't he look happy? Here's to making memories, worth every minute (even though it was so hard to be away from Gracee) and every dime.

what I've been doing while I haven't been blogging vol. 3

2010-06-30T14:48:00.002-06:00

GIRL'S CAMP!!!
One of my favorite callings so far, I am a Laurel Advisor. I love the YW. Our ward YW are really great about not having tons-o-drama and not being too cliquey=) It was really hard to leave Gracee after having been on the crusie for a week--but I felt really good about going and I am glad that I did.

I was able to get to know the other leaders a lot better
This is Maddie, she's a cutie and it was her birthday so I carried on my back for a mile of the hike!!! My hips were so bruised, but it was worth it.
some of my girls on the hike.
We got to go canoeing whenever we wanted because we were right by the lake! Nothing better than experiencing nature while getting a little workout!!
There was lots of lounging time this year...kind of nice.

While I wasn't blogging Vol. 1

2010-06-23T14:33:00.004-06:00

I have sort of dropped off the face of the blogging earth. I am sorry, for anyone who cares=). There have been a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of other things going on. For instance, I went to AZ for Morin's funeral. While I was there I saw my brother, Slade's, play. I also saw his daughter Briana's play.This is me and Bri about 4 years ago.

Us now. She is a great lil actress! I'm excited to see more things she does. She has an agent now. I also got to do her hair for prom! That was so much fun to be there for that. She's like the little sister I never had, but always wanted.

Here is my Gracee girl playing at the park in AZ.
I am very very proud of this picture I took!

Morin--one good year

2010-06-16T22:54:00.002-06:00

This is my mom and her sweetheart, Morin. He recently passed away. I was able to go to AZ where me and my 6 siblings supported mom.

An unlikely match, they were married my senior year of high school. She was his nurse in prison and they fell in love. After their marriage, he fell into his old bad habits and hurt my mom and all of us a great deal. He wound up back in prison. My mom forgave him and remained loyally his. She wrote him and visited him for about 10 years. He contracted several terminal illnesses and grew weaker over the last couple years of his imprisonment. He did a lot of changing during those last years. He committed to himself and to my mom that he would prove himself to her and to her family and his family as well, once he was released. He would be a better man. He promised her 10 good years together--at least.

(This picture was supposed to be for Morin and Linda's Christmas card in 2009, but no card ever was created because so much time and energy was spent on hospital stays and the everyday things that kept life so busy.)

They ended up getting ONE good year together. And man, did my mom make it good. Anybody that knows my mom knows that she warms everything that she touches with love. She doted on him, saved all of his old hats and jewelry that he loved for him to adorn himself with, got him power tools for Christmas that he was too weak to use, she made him all of his favorite meals, and snuggled with him on a very tiny hospital bed even though she got no sleep!

Here is a beautiful poem she wrote, she said I could share it :

WHEN LIFE BEGINS

Every day that I have lived

I've had so much love to give.

Although - until you came along...

Somehow, giving it always felt wrong.

So I lived life in the way I knew -

Striving to be honest and true,

Busily bringing precious new lives to earth;

With wonder and awe at each new birth.

Then my life was twisted and turned -

I was victimized, battered and burned.

Through it all my spirit stayed true,

As I vowed there would never be anyone new.

As I awoke from the dark - something was amiss.

And then; our very first kiss - what bliss!

I had never a clue...but suddenly I knew!

The answer would be found in you!

A rather surprising combination;

Others have called it infatuation.

Yet what I longed for so silently,

You have offered to me completely.

A love so true, so deep, so strong;

One could search a whole life long

And endlessly hope, dream and wait

For that special missing link - a soul mate!

Someone to cherish, to hold, to love -

Who understands you as the angels above.

He sees the inside for what it is;

And loves you as though you were always his.

MORIN - you are that person for me.

You set my heart, mind and soul free

From the dark dungeons of loneliness,

Into a world of love, light and happiness.

I know our love will always see us through

No matter what it is that we must do;

Because as I have told you (and this is true)

Oh, yes! My love...My life truly began with you.

by Linda Jean Peterman 12-04-2003

This poem helped me understand a little more clearly what Morin did for my mom. My mom has never been one to request her needs--to a fault. He loved her the way she silently always hoped to be loved--completely. Her love changed him. His love changed her.

Christmas morning 2009. It was such a wonderful day and they were so happy to spend it together after so many years apart.
Morin's gift from his son - Morin Jr. was this beautiful puppy. Morin named her Star and enjoyed every minute he spent loving her and training her. It was Star who summoned help for Morin the day he fell in the garage. Little did she know she would never see him again.
Isn't that the way love should be? Thank you Morin, for what you did for my mom. We are sad to see you leave so soon, but glad that you are out of pain and suffering. We know you have joined the ranks of one of my mom's guardian angels. We forgive you. We love you. Thank you for being a better man like you promised her. That little bit means the world to her.

Thank you for one good year.

Happy Birthday, My Prince

2010-05-09T22:51:00.000-06:00

My sweetheart turned 28 on Mother's Day. He is such an amazing husband and father. I knew he would be, I just knew it. (ignore the dates on these pics, our camera has issues)
I texted to ask him what he wanted for breakfast on his birthday and he told me he was making ME breakfast...who does that?
My gift to him was a mission scrapbook/photo album. We had a lot of fun looking at it with his fam on our deck after dinner. He and I also spent a relaxing hour that evening looking through it again and having him tell me all of his stories. We dream of serving missions together one day, and love to talk about our missions with each other.
This is us the day before his birthday at a local fancy restaurant where we got to overlook the beautiful mountains in this valley. It was just lovely.
Part of Russ's birthday weekend wish was to do some fun stuff with Gracee. We took her to Kneader's for breakfast where Russ got to enjoy unlimited french toast (one of his favorites) and then we stopped by the Macey's carnival. It was short lived, but she sure was cute and excited!
Russ, you are everything I ever dreamed of! Thank you for being my honey. I love you dear. Happy 28!~

18 months and counting!

2010-03-30T13:45:00.000-06:00

Gracee Girl we love you!!!

This is partly a happy 18 month to you, Gracee and partly a tribute to your cousin, Joey. He asked for some pictures of your cute little hands and fingers and nose and stuff (he lives in AZ and misses you very much). I tried getting some close up shots of your nose and neck and cheeks like I've done in the past, but it's a little more difficult getting you to cooperate in pictures than it used to be.
Here are your sweet hands that are so good at signing and telling us what you need.
here are your sweet pigtails that you only leave in for about 5 minutes, if we're lucky.
Here is you with a "VROOM VROOM VACUUM!" What a good helper!
We love you Sweetness! We "thank our God upon every remembrance of you."

Friends we are and friends we'll ever be

2010-03-28T13:36:00.000-06:00

These are some of my wonderful HS friends. Rick and Aileena were in town visiting so we all got together and sang around the piano (with Tasha at the helm of course!). It really filled my cup.

This post is a tribute to friends. I have been so blessed throughout my life with friends who inspire me to be better. 6th grade, Junior High, HS, college, mission and currently--I have been touched by many. Sometimes I don't feel deserving of these great treasures. Though not every friend who has ever touched my life could be pictured here, this picture is a representation of all of you. So thanks for touching my life.

Go Cougs!

2010-03-24T14:58:00.003-06:00

Russ's two passions: Sports (NBA and NCAA) and the Gospel. We got to go to the last home game of the year for the BYU basketball team. These are our friends Kalle and Jess. It was a very intense but sad game--we lost to New Mexico. It was filled with highs and lows. I told Russ that this is why I am not a sports fan like he is--I can't handle the emotional roller coaster it sends me on to be watching a game that I'm actually in to. When we left this game I felt so fried. Russ enjoyed watching his team play for the NCAA championships. Unfortunately the Cougars only made it to the second round, but they haven't even made it that far since 1993 or something, so it was pretty exciting for Russ that they made it that far. (They had a pretty cool pregame show that I uploaded below, sorry if it didn't work.)

Phone time with Grandma

2010-03-18T22:30:00.004-06:00

Springtime is Victory in Utah

2010-03-02T16:11:00.003-07:00

Springtime/end of winter-time in Utah is pretty tantalizing. The snow keeps falling but melts right away. I check out back everyday to watch every inch slowly disappearing from our once entirely snow-covered yard. I feel more and more triumphant and victorious with every inch. People are funny this time of year. Our teenage nephews keep traipsing about in shorts and shirts because "they're not cold". People, like our nephews, are in denial that there is any hint of winter still in the air. As soon as it gets into the 40 degree range, it's time for either light jackets or no jackets for most people. Even though you can see the goose bumps on their skin--it's SO worth it because it means we are fighting off the winter and proclaiming it spring, no matter what the thermostat says! We WILL be victorious!!
Gracee ran around all afternoon yesterday without shoes on. she was running around in the grass chasing bubbles, running up to the neighbor girls on the bicycles begging for a ride, going on walks with her neighbor friends up and down the sidewalk...she is so excited for spring!
We took these pix the other day at the park...it was still pretty cold that day, but we were VICTORIOUS!

can I toot my own horn for a minute?

2010-02-21T03:28:00.000-07:00

Baklava is one of my favorite dishes--tired of trying to find it and tired of paying an arm and a leg for it when I do! So I've learned to make it. This was day old boring rice that I didn't know what to do with, so I veggied-it-up, added some olive oil and spices and voila mexican rice side dish! It was really good too..

I kept meaning to go get M&M's or something to put in this dish for the month of February, but decided roasted almonds would be just as fun and way better for you! People have loved them! I've had to refill the dish 3 times!

Something I love to do is take recipes and adapt them "Susie style"-- That usually means lots of veggies. This one is the inside "meat mixture" for enchiladas. I put asparagus, onions, red peppers, and spinach. Oh and that's ground turkey instead of ground beef. They turned out really yummy!

My mother-in-law is making a sign for our my kitchen that says: "Susie's Bistro..lengthening lives one meal at time". I truly have found one of my greatest passions.

Lids 'n Things

2010-02-11T03:14:00.001-07:00

If anyone read the post about Gracee's crazy toy quirks, this is an extension of that. Gracee loves lids, big and small. She loves containers of any sort. She even loves digging through our recycle 'bin' (which, as you can see is located on the floor!) to find new fun containers. Her favorite for about a week was our bin of rice that WAS located next to the frige. I had to move it back downstairs because... as you can see things got a little out of hand. She started tossing it on the floor like she was sowing seeds!

sicky sick

2010-02-10T03:10:00.001-07:00

So Gracee has been sick for ....forever! Well, maybe just a week or so. But man, the last two days have been so rough. And the worst part is that it's 3 am and I can't go to sleep cuz I feel so yucky. I never get sick...and I do mean never. Well, almost. So when I do get sick I am a real baby. Anyway, at least it's giving me a good opportunity to catch up on everyone's blogs!

Dog Lover

2010-02-07T19:29:00.003-07:00

This is Reggie, Gracee's newest dog friend.

Loves for Reggie..

Gracee has several ways to communicate this affectionate relatioship she has with dogs...EVERY dog. She'll either pant with her toungue hanging out, she'll say "Mo! or Sally!" (her two favorites in the neighborhood) or she'll do the sign for dog which is to pat her leg. Russ and I are not at all pet lovers. We've both agreed though that if our kids beg us to get a dog one day, a small non-yippy one is the only way to go.

A little fresh air never hurt anyone

2010-01-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

So Gracee got hurt on the stairs and the only sense of recourse was some brisk afternoon air...

not sure how to react to snowball throwing..

little lady

I feel so much better.

"That Stage"

2010-01-16T21:42:00.001-07:00

Gracee is such a little stinker! I kept noticing that the foil on the window in her room kept wearing out and her room kept getting lighter and lighter each morning...she's been sleeping in less and less. I went to go repatch it today and found THIS handful of foil delight on the floor!
Funny, because I had just gotten off the phone with a friend who wisely warned, "Careful, she's at 'that stage'!"

Help HAITI

2010-01-14T20:28:00.003-07:00

Russ and I just watched the scenes of Haiti and wanted to know how to help. We found this article from Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1953528,00.html?iid=tsmodule

We then went to the Red Cross Twitter account: http://twitter.com/RedCross On this page it explains that you can donate $10 just by texting 90999 with the word "Haiti". It gets added to your phone bill.

Also UPS is shipping anything under 50lbs. for free to Haiti. Clothes, Shoes, etc.

What an easy way to reach out to those in desperate times. Thanks for reading.

TOYS???

2010-01-01T19:23:00.003-07:00

So I know every child has their favorite strange toy...I've heard lots of stories. I've never thought thought too much about Gracee loving, cords, scarves, purse straps and remote controls, I just figured it's typical. But the other day as I was wrestling with her to get her into her carseat--impeded by a remote and an ICE CUBE TRAY--I thought, "This can't be normal!!"
Here is just one small example:

2010-01-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

"LVSURVEY09"

Photos by Micaela the Great!

2009-12-24T03:05:00.000-07:00

we love you micaela!!!!

Christmas Surprises

2009-12-22T09:06:00.003-07:00

So I have my brother, Steve's, name for Christmas this year. He's never gotten a "real" massage from me. I arranged ahead of time to get a sitter (Russ is out of town) so I could surprise him with one. I had Aimee tell him to meet them at Miracle Bowl (right next door to my work) to go bowling with her and the kids. She even had the brilliance to pretend she had no idea where Miracle Bowl was--she just had a coupon. After I finished with my first client, I got the room ready for him, put on my coat, and excitedly ran out to the parking lot--like a giddy school girl. (Brooke, that phrase was for you, remember when we used to always say that??) I saw Steve on the phone in the middle of the parking lot. I called him and hid behind a car. When he answered he turned around and saw me standing behind him. He got off the phone with my dad and told me he was waiting for his family to meet him for bowling and that they were late. I told him it was a ploy and he crooked his head to the side and said, suspiciously, "Really?" I linked arms with him and led him to the clinic, telling him that he was actually here to get a massage. He sheepishly smiled and told me how sneaky me and Aimee are.

I think one of my trademarks is that I LOVE SURPRISES!!! What Christmas surprises have you given or received this year?

Thanksgiving time

2009-12-11T20:56:00.007-07:00

(sorry the pics are all out of order again.) Playing in Micaela's fun yard.

Trying out the new car seat..

Me, Russ and Gracee made a quick trip down to AZ for Thanksgiving. It was sad that I couldn't see everybody I wanted to see--quick trips are tricky that way.

We got to continue our tradition of running a turkey trot thanksgiving morning--only this time we shared it with Diane, Dad, and Slade! It really was a blast! (dad, can you send me what pics you have?) Me and Slade had so much fun just being goofy and silly like old times. We ate dinner with everybody at the Stokers, it was cozy and yummy.

This is Gracee modeling the dress Grandma made for her birthday. She loved her visit with grandma! She slept there and when grandma had to get up in the night to change her diaper--Gracee was just THRILLED!! She kept smiling at her in the dim light saying, "Hi!" over and over again! She definately remembers her from when she used to live with us here in UT! Grandma was very relieved about that!

The day after Thanksgiving Micaela did a photo shoot for us--pictures to come! Thanks for sharing your talent with us Kala, you are such a dream!

We enjoyed our visit with the Adams family and fish boys. Gracee loves her cousins. Thanks everybody for hosting us! We are lucky to have such fabulous hosts!

Run for Fun? What the Heck kinda fun is that??

2009-11-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, so as usual my photos are all out of order. Cute. Anyway, the first annual Halloween Provo Half Marathon rocked! I did it with my good friend Kimberlee. It was an honor to run with her for her FIRST Half! Congrats again Kimmie! We started up by Aspen Grove Family Camp. We got to stay warm in the lodge while we waited for the race to start. That's actually a HUGE perk for a race, cuz usually they make you wait out in the freezing cold and your muscles and nerves get all crampy!

They blocked off the main highway for us to cross over to run on the Provo River trail. I felt som important as we ran passed at least 100 vehicles. They weren't even annoyed-acting that we messed up their morning commute. They cheered fur us and all of the fun costumes.

As long as my knees do okay, this run will be a yearly tradition. It was on my favorite running path and was organized very well. Thanks for reading!

silly sock friends...next year there'll be a better costume.

chip off the old block..

2009-11-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Momma and Gracee usually have the munchies... lucky for us, we usually try to make it something healthy...

if possible!!

Ha! I love this one. As soon is the refrigerator is open even for a second, she bolts over and immediately starts going for the carrot bag or the apple drawer. She takes a nibble or two out of each one and moves on to the next.

What goes down must come up!

2009-11-18T10:43:00.002-07:00

We are so happy to have our Gracee back to health! The last two weeks were rotten rotten rotten! She had a virus that gave her horrible blisters in her mouth! She was so miserable and wouldn't eat or drink for quite some time. It was very traumatic for us. Russ had to pick up the pieces of myself I kept losing throughout each day. He was such a big support.

Luckily, she's been catching up on sleep. Yesterday she didn't wake up until 11:15am! (17 hours of uninterrupted sleep). I was just talking to a friend who is waiting for me right now at a play group. At about 10:30am I was telling her WHY Gracee was still asleep, "Well she went to bed soooo late last night! It was almost 9pm!" She said, "Nora went to sleep at 9pm last night too, but she woke up at 5am!" She says I'm a "lucky dog"!

But hey, we deserve it after the last couple weeks, right? We knew that when Gracee did feel better, it would be so much more wonderful and magical than we ever remembered health being! What goes up must go down...the reverse is also true.

Confessions and addictions

2009-11-12T22:17:00.004-07:00

I am addicted to Foyle's War. I want to watch it ALL THE TIME. But I don't. I practice a great deal of self-restraint. But just know that it is because of this series and Gracee girl being sick the past while that I seem to have dropped off the face of the blogging, texting, cell phoning earth. Sorry, if you watch it you'll understand. I promise. Stay tuned.

Follow the Yellow brick road!

2009-11-12T21:56:00.004-07:00

So we couldn't find a straw hat, but Russ is supposed to be a "mildy-dressed" scarecrow and I was Dorothy. I think doing family-themed Halloweens are so fun! Russ just humored me. What a trooper.

Gracee and her friend Lily. I loved the medal she wore as the cowardly lion. It was such a nice touch, dontcha think?

Gracee and her friend Maddie. "ROAR! Who says I'm cowardly??!"

A love affair

2009-11-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those people who can't go to bed with the kitchen messy? Bed unmade? Are you one of those people who has to lick your plate in order to feel satisfied? (I hope you're reading this Star!) Are you one of those people who feels incomplete unless they have vacuumed? Dusted? Do you have to have a bowl of cereal EVERY morning? Not eggs, not pancakes--it has to be cereal, otherwise you will be starved the whole morning?

I AM!!

Russ and I both have a deep love affair with cereal. It's an expensive habit! Recently we've had to get creative and start thinking of other snacks at night and for skipped meals (Russ's dilemma when I am not at home.) I am putting up a list in our cereal cupboard that says, "Wait! Is this just a snack? Have you already had cereal today? Try another option FIRST:" We have put our heads together and come up with about 10 other snacks that we could settle for--in order to reserve the cereal for breakfast. We will have to muster a lot of self-control, but as I always say, "We CAN do hard things!"

The love affair will continue--oh yes--there's no doubt about it. But perhaps it will feel more special each morning to know that I won't be able to have another bowl for at least 24 hours...

Do you have a love affair you'd like to share?

My Protest

2009-11-03T13:51:00.003-07:00

Recently Utah decided that EVERY phone number had to have the 801 area code placed in front of it, no matter where you are dialing from. (Even if it's not long distance.) Ever since then, there has been this wave of people being "801- happy" (if you are one of these people, I still love you.) So you may be asking, "What does '801 happy' mean"? It means that when somebody tells you their number they ALWAYS say 801 before it, and they pause to let you write it down before moving on to the other, less obvious digits in their number. As if I don't know! Granted, some people have out of state cell numbers. That and ONLY that would be the time to give me your area code. If you don't give me an area code, it's pretty darn clear that you have an 801 like all the rest of us! So if you are getting a number from me and I just tell you 7 numbers...please,whatever you do, don't say, "is that 801?"

Frightening monsters? Tis the Season!

2009-10-26T15:41:00.002-06:00

Happy Halloween to one and all!!! We have a couple of frightening 'monsters' around our house that always make chills run up Gracee's spine!
This may look like a mere stereo to the untrained eye--but to Gracee it is a huge-mouthed creature with spinning teeth! The mouth pops out whenever one of those many buttons is pushed--not sure which one til she tries it--but when she does, she has to speedily rush to mom or dad for protection. It hasn't hurt her yet, but she's pretty sure that it could strike at any moment....

This one has a name that speaks for itself, "Devil"! She keeps going around the door to peer at it. When she does, she starts whimpering and tries to get our attention Once she gets it, she stops whimpering and points to it with a VERY troubled brow! When we use it, she has to be in our arms or far from it. She just stares at it with a mixed look of awe and trepidation.

A Camera in my Heart...

2009-10-17T22:20:00.002-06:00

Today me and Russ and Gracee went to the canyon to enjoy one of our last warm and sunny days. Gracee looked so cute and was so cheerful toddling around. (She's starting to take a step or two--videos to come!) The leaves were all sorts of vibrant colors. Red, yellow, orange, brown...they were swirling all around us in the breeze! We had a yummy picnic and then played around on the grass and went for a walk. Gracee loved it every time we passed the water--she'd tense up and reach for it. She loved putting her feet in it. It was such a serene afternoon. The whole time I kept wishing I had the camera. It was one of those times I just had to tell myself to take a vivid shot with the camera in my heart. I have a lot of priceless photos in there, ya know. These moments are what the epitome of happiness is to me.

Happy Happy Birthday Gracee dear!

2009-10-08T14:58:00.006-06:00

So I am of the belief that every parent has the right to freak out over their child turning one. Hopefully I am this sentimental about all of my children's "firsts". She seems to have taken her birthday as a rite of passage for many things, as future posts will attest! Anyhow, please celebrate with us by browsing this post and sharing any birthday wish you may have for Gracee! "Welcome to my party SkyMax (her cousin). Can I touch your hair? It's so lovely..."

Sharing food with Gramma Hannig

Play time with Aunt Stef

"Mom, dad....why are all of these people staring at me?? I like it, but why?"

"You want me to do what??"

"You're sure this is okay?"

She really did own this cake. Ever since her birthday, she keeps wanting to hold the whole piece of whatever it is she's eating. "Nevermind all of this piece- breaking business, give me the whole thing mom!"

"I LOVE eating this way!!"

A blood bath! And yes, that is a tomato in her hand, she's obsessed with squeezing and biting into produce!! What can I say? A chip off the block!

She loves to clap! Her hands and cheeks were rosey the whole rest of the day!

Though she had guests to entertain, she got distracted by our apple stash--her best friend right now. She loves to toss them around and take one bite out of each one!

Surprise!! My good friend Jesse dropped in from Cali to stay with us for a bit.

Two Kenzies and two Grac(i)ees!

Where's Gracee Girl? One year today..

2009-09-30T20:36:00.004-06:00

A year ago this day we were getting acquainted with our new little nearly 8 lb bundle. Now 11 lbs. heavier and bursting with joy, Gracee has enriched our lives immeasurably. All those who know her or have met her are struck by her engaging ways. She LOVES making new friends and seems to really have a love for people. Hope you enjoy these two videos! Let me know if they work, this is my second attempt at being fancy by putting videos on here...

STAYCATION! Try it!

2009-09-16T14:10:00.001-06:00

So if anybody has advice on moving pictures around to get them in a desirable order--I would love it!! I used to be able to move them, but it's not letting me anymore!!
ANYWAY! Here are some very out of order pictures of a staycation me and Russ took. It was in an effort to get us all refreshed for the 2 year overhaul we have on our hands with Russ starting his MBA program. I think it worked!

We took a whole week off and just played...yup! Here in Utah. Gracee and Russ both do much better in their own beds. =) My mom came to be a permanent babysitter for Gracee so could come and go as we pleased. It was just lovely. Russ made it so fun. Here are some of the things we did:
Fishing with Russ's cute dad!
Dinner at our favorite restaurant--Carrabbas!

On my birthday, for tradition's sake (and mine!), we did a tandem bike ride up the canyon with Gracee hooked to the back! she fell asleep on the way up! (We're making the # 29 with our fingers, if you can't tell!)

Amazing eggs and breakfast in bed from my honey! He's so good=) Look at that cut up fruit, he sure knows me!

Living Aquarium with Gracee. She really like this place!

Gracee at the stingray petting zoo. She had so much fun here!

She liked it here a lot better than the zoo because she was closer to the animals I think.

The zoo. She was pretty bored I think. A little disappointing. Next year?

We at lunch at the Lionhouse in Salt Lake.

We watched a 3-D IMAX show about bugs...it was really cool!

We went to "This is the place Monument" and Village.

We saw the new Oquirrh Mountain temple. We also ate at Sweet Tomatoes that night, yummy!

Good food and good company. That's a vacation to me. The only thing I didn't love was that I still had to do the 'household things' in order to keep my sanity when we were at home. Mom cleaned a ton--but she couldn't do it all. When we go on vacations AWAY from home, I don't have to clean at all!!! Other than that, it was to die for! We wanna do it again!

It'll all come out in the wash...

2009-09-15T13:33:00.004-06:00

So my friend, Kimberlee just got her own place and was in need of a dryer...that's when it all started... We bought this front loader used when we were first married. It's never quite been "right". But being the thrifty couple we are, we have suffered through having to go down and stop the washer in between cycles--otherwise it just kept running. However, a couple weeks ago, our 'well-oiled machine' COMPLETELY stopped working. I cloth diaper and have several sheets to wash a week from my massage practice, so I called Russ right away and warned him that we better start looking. Luckily, our friends Heather and Dave let us do a load over there in the interim. Dave also helped Russ with the nasty mess of unhooking our old one and installing AND picking up our new one! I say "one"--but we actually got a new dryer as well...because hey! It has to match! We got a steal on both of them. The dryer was even floor model.

so that left us with an extra dryer...

(Here's the dryer...I couldn't get my pictures to go in the right order today, sorry!)

Here's Dave and Russ trashing the carpet roll that has been cramping my style in the garage for a year! WOOHOO! Good Riddens (sp?)!

So when I was at Kimberlee's the other day, I said, "so YOU'RE the reason our washer broke??"

It's interesting how things sort of have a way of working out.

(Here's the yucky mess I was referring to. )

Favorite babysitter and Big girl with bottle

2009-08-14T12:06:00.005-06:00

Bear with us as we try to get more techno-savvy on this blog!

Happy 10 months Gracee Girl!

2009-08-09T00:25:00.000-06:00

What scampers, scavengars, scrunches her nose and is sweet all over???Our Gracee girl!!! On July 30th she turned 10 months.

She is outsmarting dad's blockades here...

Showing off her two teeth (one more on the way as we speak!)

VERY good with her hands now...

another teeth shot...

LOVES play with lots of things she shouldn't like cords and outlets!

Oh and I don't even need to sweep or mop anymore...

she found this strawberry on the kitchen floor.

caught red handed! Our little scavenger...

Russ and I aren't big pet lovers, but Gracee seems to love animals! dogs..

bunnies.

We went to our friends Scott and Mieka's house and Gracee found new friends: Aggie, the bunny....

rocks...(yum!)

and this ANT! Yes, you read that right, she was chasing around this poor little ant for the longest time. I was laughing so hard!
What are you laughin' at mom??

New little additions...

2009-08-07T00:02:00.000-06:00

So I have this friend, her name is Micaela Anderson. She is a completely fabulous, seriously nice person. She's as genuine as they come, a complete gem. ANYWAY, if you go to yourphotosbyme.blogspot.com, you can find more of her work. She's a mom and a nurse and a self-taught photographer. She helped with our wedding and has done some of our little family. She recently edited some photos she took while we were down in AZ. I have been having a blast ever since! Isn't this gigantic 16 by 20 the sweetest thing ever??
more...
And one of my very most favorites...

My friend, Tara, gave me this bamboo thingie a while back, and we just LOVE it. You can always keep it chalked full of your most recent photos...

This one above is showing the letters that I just decopaged with my good friend Kenzie. She just had her first girl yesterday, named her Gracie too. We have parallel lives in so many ways, so I wasn't surprised at all when we discovered that we both wanted to name our first girl Grac(i)ee. So I thought it only fitting to purchase some of these letters she'd requested for myself as well so that we could decorate them together. It was a fun time together. Tedious, but fun. My mother-in-law has started her own vinyl business, and she is fantastic! She is one of the most creative minds in all the land...this little saying for Gracee's door is only a sliver of what ticks in that brain of hers.

Last but not least, I thought I'd include these slightly out-dated pics of our flower gardens in their prime. They are looking much sadder now because I have been 'too busy' with my other projects (refer to the photos above for reference) to nurture my flowers and produce!

It's also pretty hot. One step at a time. I think I'll get better at being committed to my garden each year...we'll see. I really do love it. But I love a lot of things, that's usually my problem. =)

Holy catch up time!!!

2009-08-04T21:55:00.006-06:00

WATCH OUT! This is the world's longest catch-up blog. This is like, 6 blogs in one!!

So I am going to apologize in advance at this hasty attempt to catch up on our lives. I, as usual, have been working on tons of random projects and trying to be a good wife, mom, neighbor, friend...etc. THEREFORE, I have struggled to even get on the computer at all these days. I need to catch up on reading everyone else's blogs as well.

we celebrated the holiday weekend with family, so fun! This is us with Star's family at the Scera pool. Cuties! We all tried to wrestle and dunk Star in the pool, but as usual, he was inconquerable!! We also got shave ice afterward!We took Gracee to the Provo 4th of July Parade. It was pretty hot, but I insisted because these types of holiday events are so much more fun with kids. We also met up again with the Hall's there. That evening, we met over at the "Hannig compound" for our annual dutch oven night! (Incidentally, I love those red capris! I found them second hand when I was 20, my mom made them into capris for me. Russ doesn't care much for them, so I hardly ever wear them. When I was wearing them that day, he asked me about them--I told him it was the 4th! I can wear any crazy patriotic thing I want!)Okay, so I realize this is very blurry, but this head tilt thing is to die for! It's Gracee's new thing! And just a couple days ago, she started sticking out her tongue over and over again when she does it. I laugh so hard every time. Where does she get this stuff??Gearin' up for her first firework show!Ah, our first 4th!Happy Birthday Star! When my Dad and Di came to town, we had a blast. We all met at Star's for a BBQ to celebrate his birthday. Schuyler and Gracee are learning how to be playmates. One of my favorite things to do with dad is bike riding. We did the Provo Canyon route...Steve loves walking the route so he met up with us. Doesn't he look so handsome? Though I was leaving for girls camp his last morning with me, we squoze in one more ride, this time we did the Provo trail down to the lake. We felt so adventuresome!Though I missed my angel babe and sweet husband, girls camp was A BLAST!! I had to pump the whole time I was there, but it was worth it, I really enjoy serving in the YW organization. I see it, like the relief society, as a bond of womanhood and strength completely unmatched anywhere. I was so surprised by how much I missed Russ!

But don't worry, he came my last night there with the bishopric, this is the only pic I have to prove it...do you see him there in the corner? Pioneer day was great. People all have work off and everything here! Me and my friend 'Pamela Joy' ran the Pioneer Day run in Provo--she's a hoot! I just love her. Then me and Russ got to go on Sea Doos with our good friend and babysitter, Kenzie Harmon. Other than completely screwing up my neck, RE-bruising my tailbone, and some 'back seat driving' by you-know-who (!) IT WAS A TOTAL BLAST! No seriously, I want to do it again. I really had fun, in all honesty.

Trip to Arizona

2009-07-09T13:37:00.001-06:00

Gracee and I recently returned from a 10-day trip to AZ. It was so much fun seeing grandma, great grandman, cousins, friends, and Aunts. Here are some of the pictures from it.

this bow is the first one I've EVER liked on Gracee! We had a magnificent photo shoot at Micaela's with some of Gracee's new little friends.
Afterwards, we had a swim party and Gracee made her usual concerned look at the water....but after being with grandma and seeing a handsome face, she was her usual flirty happy self in no time!

She also got to meet some more new friends--Christie, Emily, Brooke, and Erin--it was so good to see you!
She also got to meet her great Grandma Ione for the first time!
Then we headed up to the White Mountains to stay with Steph's family.
She got to meet her great Aunt Pam and Uncle Starl--and she got to see one of my dad's classic laughing fits. Love to see you laugh dad!
She had her first pony ride!
She got to have lots of cousin bonding time!
Aunt Sandy even came to say goodbye before we left for the airport.
She had lots of fun charming everyone on the airplane. I may have already mentioned this but she does this thing where she will make noises or shout at someone until they look at her. Once she has caught their eye, she engages them in a full head shaking, nose-scrunching, laughing conversation. Needless to say, she had a lot of friends by the end.
First plane ride. Lots of firsts. She did awesome and was so much fun. She really missed her daddy though. We were so happy to be home.

Livin' off the land...

2009-07-06T13:33:00.001-06:00

For me, life's sweetest joys have always been the simple ones; getting a good deal, relaxing after a hard day's work, being sore from a good workout, harvesting food that I have grown, or cloth diapering--even with its challenges.
We began cloth diapers as soon as our 5 month supply of generously-gifted diapers ran out, and as you can see, we had a bit of a rough start. Russ has reiterated his feelings about these little cloth creations. It is no secret that if it were entirely up to him, we'd be using disposables.

When I was out of town for 3 weeks, I used disposables. It was a nice break but it reminded me of why I have been enjoying the cloth diaper world. It is for the same reason that I love to get up at dawn and go for an invigorating run. It is for the same reason I love to work and sweat out in the yard all day. It is for the same reason I LOVED working out in the wilderness with troubled teens and learning from nature--All of these give some sort of feeling that I am living off the land. I usually rinse the diaper covers out by hand and hang them out to dry. When I need a fresh one, I'll go and get one off of the line out back. It reminds me of when I lived in Vanuatu and we would just go grab some island cabbage out of our garden in the back when we needed it. Last night I just grabbed a huge thing of broccoli out of our garden for dinner and once again had that invigorating 'livin off the land' rush and remembered I wanted to do this post today. Sometimes, for me, convenience is only second to feeling like I REALLY experienced something. Go ahead, call me crazy. Many do.

The parts we love about you

2009-06-30T01:27:00.001-06:00

HAPPY 9 MONTHS!! Wow Gracee, it's amazing we've only known you for 9 months. Gracee can now get up on her hands and knees, she doesn't quite know what to do from there yet. She gets more and more verbal every week. She open and closes her hands really fast when she's excited and wants what she is looking at. Or she'll also do it and look around frantically if we have the NERVE to set her down anywhere without something to suck, chew or bang with. She still does her nose scrunching thing--but it's morphed into being the way she smiles now. She scrunch her nose and breathes in and out of it really loud to get people's attention at the store, church, or at the house. Once she cathces their eye, she proceeds to charm them by completely engaging and interacting. If people try to talk with her when she is tired or hungry, she usually tries to give a polite smile before she turns back around to mom or dad to show how she REALLY feels! Do we have a people pleaser? =) I can't even begin to count how many times a day I kiss her sweet cheeks, nose, or lips. She's learning how to give kisses, too. She doesn't get the whole pucker thing, but she knows what's going on!

We also love her chubby little thighs!

And my personal SECOND favorite---the neck! It's so cute and little and defined already!

Gracee girl, we love you! You have brightened every day in the last 9 months since you've come to us. We love your sweet, engaging spirit. We thank our Heavenly Father every day for you.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T14:50:00.006-06:00

Father! - to God himself we cannot give a holier name. ~William Wordsworth I knew from the moment I first met him that he would be a fabulous father.

Gracee feels so comfortable with him. From her very first weeks, they were very well bonded--like two kindred spirits.

He's comfortable doing pretty much everything I do with her. He watches her in the evenings and on Saturdays when I go to work. He is very aware of her needs and her moods.

He enjoys all of the fun holiday parts of parenting that I like to cheese up and take photos of, or at least I should say he's a good sport about!

He is everything I ever hoped for in a husband and father and much more. I still realize/learn little things about him and think, "did I know I'd be getting that too when we were dating? Nope, that's just another icing on the cake."

One of the youth in our ward said that he's learned more from Russ in the last year than he has ever learned...that is one of my favorite things about Russ. He's an excellent teacher and example and has a burning testimony, which he is very passionate about sharing.

I am so grateful to have you as the father of my children honey! Thanks for being you because you're my favorite!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

DIE HARD? I think not.

2009-05-20T13:39:00.003-06:00

So many of you may know that I like to do triathlons. A lot of people sound impressed when they hear that and say something like, "Woah, you're die hard," or, "Go Sus!" And when I tell them I just do it for fun and I'm not die hard, they seem to think I'm just being modest. This morning I snuck into the rec center--hoping to go unnoticed by the die hards--with my new wet suit on (It's a lot like the one in this picture, but I bought it on a crazy sale last summer when I was also CRAZY pregnant, so I had no idea how/if it fit!) and my new goggles--a beloved and much needed COSTCO find.
I looked about as goofy as I do in this picture, but even goofier because I was at an INDOOR swimming pool in the SUMMER! But I am doing the Salem relay tri with my nephew Zach and my hubby Russ in a little over a week--so I decided to swallow my pride and try out my new gear so that I will get a better feel for it. (Incidentally, this picture is about how far my friend Kenzie and I made it to doing the Salem tri last year! See the shirt and the sweat band? We also got some free water bottles. It was really rainy and freezing that morning and so we opted out.)

So here's where the funny part comes in. Most long pools have lanes marked like this comic shows:

I usually choose the slow lane (remember the part about me not being die hard? Yah, getting kicked in the face by snobby die hards needing to pass me each time they lap me is not my idea of an 'uplifting' workout!) but this morning I got there a little early and the lanes were not yet marked. So I went into the one that looked like I would get disturbed the least. Half way through my swim, I noticed they had marked my lane as the fast lane. I was trying to beat my last record time--so I decided to stay in the "die hard" fast lane... to make a long 20 minutes short, the dude I was sharing it with had to pass me SEVERAL times. (He had fins on though). When he exited the pool I just finished my last lap and came up out of the water to hear him venting something to a fellow die hard who had just entered. Though I couldn't make out the topic of conversation, his tone was heated and his last words were, "EXACTLY!" and he glared at me TWICE as he walked out of the pool! I was just innocently stretching and catching my breath. I thought of asking the lady what he had said about me, but I didn't really want to know the answer.

So again I say, I really am just doing this because I enjoy it. I am not trying to be the first, fifth, or even fiftieth. I do it because it makes me feel driven and happy--I LOVE IT.

Die hard. DEFINATELY NOT!

My First Mother's Day

2009-05-11T20:34:00.003-06:00

These are the perplexed looks Gracee has been doing lately...

Here is a journal excerpt about my first mother's day(don't ask me why it's all underlined, I don't profess to be blogger savvy yet):

So I had the most fantastic Mother's Day ever! When I got out of the shower in the morning Russ had flowers and two cute books waiting for me on the floor, along with a really nice letter. He normally has to have tons of help from his sisters, but this time he went solo! He even traced Gracee's hand into the book that was from her, so cute. It's a Sally Deford book with illustrations that go along with some of her lyrics. Then the other book is a gardening at temple square book cuz I've been so interested in learning about gardening. The roses were all different colors. Me and Russ got to team teach a marriage lesson in young women's. Gracee took a 2 and ½ hour nap!!! (She normally take 30 min. naps, but we've been trying the cry-it-out thing during naptime and she is adjusting like a rock star!) That was her gift to me. So Russ and I got to sleep for about two hours—THE longest nap we've had since Gracee was born. We went over to Russ's family's house and enjoyed a meal and a beautiful spring afternoon. It was so peaceful. After we put Gracee down, Russ's parents came over and gave us advice on our flowers and vegetable garden. After our visit, we waved goodbye to them and turned to go inside, Russ's arm around my shoulder. I told him this is just what I always imagined family life to be like. I said THIS is what happiness is.

Series of unfortunate events turned fortunate...

2009-05-04T12:24:00.001-06:00

so the other day I was cleaning in a hurry (our usual style around here) and I put a little bowl of pineapple juice in the fridge, uncovered. (afterall, I was in a hurry!) Most of you know pineapple juice is just about the stickiest of all juices. Anyway, about 5 minutes later I went back into the fridge and capsized the bowl all over the fridge and floor! I was of course, on hands and knees cleaning every nook and cranny....and I happened to stumble upon some nooks I hadn't yet seen...
There is a little hidden bottom row to our fridge! WHO KNEW??? I was so excited, it erased all of my hurried woes. I cleaned off the secret shelf and neatly placed all of my mom's fancy protein and joint drinks and such in a spot just perfect for them! Simple thing, yet it made my afternoon.

Have any of you had an unfortunate event lead you to something very fortunate?

THE BALL

2009-05-03T12:24:00.012-06:00

So a few weeks ago I had a very surprising conversation with Russ. It went something like this, "Hey hon, guess what? They're having a BYU alumni ball and Noteworthy will be performing at it...wanna go???" I was positive he'd say no because he doesn't like to dance, but I thought what's the harm in asking. Without any hesitation whatsoever he replied, "sure". I thought for sure he must not have realized what he agreed to. So as the date of the ball drew nearer, I kept mentioning it to make sure that we were on the same page. At last, the night arrived and he got all dressed up, without complaint! My fairy God Mother helped me get ready! We of course had to take one of those shots to reminisce/mock all of the formal pictures we took in our younger days with various dates. We tried to make it look like we were as awkward as possible, we did a pretty good job eh?

Me and my prince!

We were accompanied by our friends Mieka and Scott, good times had by all.
Oh, QUEEN Mieka and SIR Scott that is. Here is is fastening his lady's "slipper"!
Oh, wait...who's that couple on the left? Wouldn't you know that the paparazi (sp?) caught the 4 minutes we spent at the dance instruction? That's about all Russ could handle=)

Teenie Beenies update

2009-04-28T20:07:00.005-06:00

WOW! Thanks for the overwhelming response! We are so excited to get these little creations out in the hands of doting parents and onto the heads of your little cherubs.

1) These CAN be for boys! These are just winter hat examples but I will send another post in a few days of examples of spring/summer hats that are way cute for boys.

2)Many have also asked about the price, small detail to overlook right? Sorry about that. I copied and pasted from my mom's ad here:

These can be made to order. You can pick them up in Orem or they can be mailed with shipping charge added. Styles shown here and can make any color combination you choose. Can also be made for any size head with proper measurements. The hats shown are for infants, toddlers or adults. I also offer package prices, just in case you all want to match! One hat for $15.00, two for $28.00, three for $40.00, four for $50.00. Each hat after that is $10.00.

3) Lastly, lots of people have suggested ETSY. Thanks guys, great idea. I'm working on helping her set up an account up there. That might be where we end up having people pay and such.

Well this is officially the most business-like blog I've ever posted! Contact me via email susie_faye@hotmail.com or by commenting to this to let me know what your orders are until we get things really up and running! Thanks a bunch. Brownies and kisses to come....(I better be careful what I promise?)

Teenie Beenies Anyone?

2009-04-26T20:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, so my sweet mother has been on disability for a few years and is trying to get back to work, but the process is slow and painful. To rest her back, she makes these delectable creations. These could be the absolute key to getting her back on her feet financially.

We've been trying to decide the best way to market them and are also trying to decide on a name for the company and/or the products. She makes hats for the spring, summer and for cold weather with ear flaps to protect sweet lil ears. She can make them for children and adults of all ages so people can have their kids all match if they want.

We've been marketing them on KSL and Craig's List and Russ's dad let us put them in one of their booths at a local boutique last weekend. We sold one! But, okay, here's where we need help:

1) Any good ideas of getting these little guys out into people's hands?

2) Here are the names we've considered:

Bean Sprouts (Beanies, berets, bonnets and more!)
Teenie Beenies

Lindees Beenees

Flirty Hats

What is your vote? Or better yet, do you have a name idea??

3) If you would like to order one or know anybody that would, I will kiss your feet and bake you brownies! She can take special orders and gives discounts when you purchase multiples. They are a great baby shower gift or birthday gift.

She is amazing at these and I get 10 bazillion compliments every time Gracee wears them--which is pretty much everytime we go out.

Let me know your thoughts!

testy test test

2009-04-20T11:58:00.005-06:00

Ok, if this video works, you all have my genius friend Kelly to thank. Let me know if you were able to view this video of Gracee being her adorable self.

6 Month Milestones

2009-04-15T14:07:00.000-06:00

She loves to laugh!
I spent a day showing her how to lay her head down to the side when she rolls over onto her belly and the next night and day I saw her practicing it. (sorry no pics of this!)

This her completely adorable nose scrunch that she's been doing for about a month now!

Our sweet little angel

She pats my shoulder when I pick her up to tell me that she loves me or she's giving positive reinforcement to let me know I was successful in reading her mind and guessed right on what she wanted!

nose scrunch again! She loves to hear herself make cute noises (I tried to uplaod an amazingly cute video, but does someone know how to do that and can teach me? Even my computer savvy brother was unsuccessful)

When she is done resting for the night or after one of her classic 30 minute cat naps she plays with her little friends in her crib and makes adorable noises--no more crying to communicate "come and get me!"

She wants to eat what and when we're eating.

Gets clingy to mom sometimes.

She has grudauated from grunting to expressing herself through cute sounds to interact.

Rolling all over the place in pursuit of her precious toys, clicking the tongue game with grandma, pulling off her socks and playing with them, and the tongue spit/blow game with dad.

When I said the word 'grandma', she looks at grandma.

She has also learned the magical new world of being able to pull her hats off all by herself!!

Spring fun

2009-04-04T18:00:00.005-06:00

As many of you may know, Utah weather is a bit unpredicatable during the Spring. It is kind of an emotional roller-coaster for those non-skiers who ADORE spring and merely patiently tolerate winter. So though the snow, high winds, and frosty mornings still threaten, we are determined to enjoy every beautiful day!
Happy First day of Spring! This was a beautiful day to celebrate my cherished mother's 60th! We had hats, Scotty brought their blow up jumper thing, and Alethea made amazing pumpkin cheesecake! We of course had the traditional tacos!

Picnic for Kenzie's birthday

trip to St. George, Gracee's first hike!
Gracee's first time bowling!

car wash= excuse to be outside!
That's my girl! She loves to be outside!

Notice the adorable jelly shoes hand-me-down (Thanks Heather!) and the cute green diaper on St. Patty's Day!

We love you Gracee Girl! You make holidays, seasons, and everyday more sweet!

Happy April Fools!

2009-04-02T20:53:00.003-06:00

In classic Utah fashion, it snowed a bunch after Spring had already announced itself!

Me and Russ are pretty fun I guess, but not when it comes to April Fools Day. The day before I usually try to think of some fun, last minute plan, but I never end up doing anything, I don't even know if Russ even realizes what day it is=) Help us be more fun, what are some of your traditions?

Quirks

2009-03-30T11:06:00.001-06:00

This is a recent journal entry that I thought was blog-worthy. Russ said it was okay for me to share it:
March 23, 2009
So we had the pleasure of a visit from Cary Arave (sista Bingham) and her husband Nate the other night. They live in CA. We were visiting with them and Kimberlee late Saturday night. It was so funny because Russ was sharing something that he is “adamant” about and said, “that's one of the few things I am adamant about, right Sus?” I couldn't disagree more. I'm sure he regretted having asked me...I went on to explain how no, he's not adamant about anything—except for his salad dressing, he has to have something creamy, preferably ranch. In fact the other day we were all out of ranch and Caesar and all we had left were two types of vinaigrettes. Since he hadn't had a salad or any veggies for about five days, I made him a salad anyway and counted on him being a trooper about it—which he was—but not without a little disappointed 5-year-old sad face asking me if we were still out of ranch. I told him we were but that he could figure out something and rushed off to take care of Gracee, my other child. =) Oh and then there are his cereals, there are only a handful out of the hundreds of options that he likes. Honey Bunches of Oats (must be spaced apart with other types of cereals), Frosted Mini Wheats(must be spaced apart with other types of cereals), Cinnamon Toast Crunch(must be spaced apart with other types of cereals), and Waffle Crisp (which I only give to him as a rare treat since it's pure sugar.) Occasionally he'll resort to Golden Grahams or Chex, but as he is going through the box he'll be sure to let me know that “we are almost out of cereal”. Oh and then there are leftovers....he can only have them about once or twice—if I try to stretch them further—he'll mysteriously 'forget' to eat that day at lunch or 'accidentally' leave the tupperware container in the car or on his desk at work so it's ruined. (In his defense, he hasn't done this for a long time). Oh and then there are bruises on apples or bananas. I have to cut them out, or he won't eat them. Then there is his yogurt, I can't buy any kind but Yoplait with the red label, I am not allowed to buy Yoplait “light”. To make a long story shorter, he then said all of these were just food things, and I went on to explain how he is absolutely right other than refusing to wash his face at night even though he obviously should, refusal to shave more than twice a week because he “hates it”. Who loves shaving?? After I finished off with a couple of other non-food quirks, he was actually speechless, holding a cushion in front of his face and trying not to laugh but obviously had nothing to say in his defense. For the first time in our marriage I left the unconquerable witty Russ SPEECHLESS.

Swimming Fun

2009-03-19T22:33:00.002-06:00

We've now taken Gracee swimming twice! What a delight!

This is us ready for our adventure going into the Rec Center!

First we got to introduce her to the Ladie's locker room where we all got changed!

Then she was amazed by the huge body of bath water that lie before her! Wow what is this big bath for? I explained that this was a little different, it's called a "pool"!

She tightly clung to me for the first little while...

but then grandma helped her to warm up a bit more to the water, she showed us by starting to kick ONE of her legs!! We love it when she does that!

Then we got out of the wet diaper and she had a nakey bum! She loved this!

Saying goodbye to "pool". Again, amazed at how BIG it all is...

swimming with Daddy in St. George...

She loves her daddy!

Shave and a Haircut...

2009-03-18T23:03:00.004-06:00

So Russ and I let our hair get way too out of control...

WAY WAY out of control.
So we snapped! We both went pretty extreme.

Hello 16-year-old Russ again!

Then there's me...

BEFORE (I let this grow out as long as it has ever gotten before)

AFTER (I had her cut off about 9 inches so I could donate it to locks of love! I was so daring!)

Thanks Kristen!

She made it so easy to style too!

Mariella--tru fren blong mi

2009-03-07T00:00:00.003-07:00

This amazing woman sitting next to me is having a birthday today. I wanted to introduce you to her. I am a better person for her influence in my life. She is a wonderful example of goodness to others, faith that propels her to be better and courage to stand up for what she knows to be right.

She is the wife of the branch president that I served with on my mission. This is how I originally came to know her and her sweet family. We have shared many wonderful spirit-filled conversations at her home. Her and her husband Katimal had the RARE opportunity of not only being sealed in the temple, but they were able to do it in the Salt Lake temple. Her conversion story is sweet and shows her strength. We recorded it on our video camera when I brought Russ to Vanuatu in 2006. The story of her getting to the Salt Lake temple shows Heavenly Father's love and tender watchful care over her.

I am so grateful that the Saints in Vanuatu have a strong example like her. One of my favorite memories of Mariella was the night Russ and I arrived in Vanuatu. I was extremely stressed about planning the trip and I did something that I NEVER do in situations like that---I didn't plan a thing! I mean it, nobody even knew we were coming until the day before and I didn't even let them know when my plane was coming in because I didn't think I deserved the traditional greeting party that our friends there are known for. Mariella caught wind of my coming and in her Mariella way, organized a huge welcoming party at the airport. She wasn't sure when we were coming in so she had my dear friend Rachel Susurup check periodically throughout the day to see which plane we'd be coming from. When she greeted me with a hug and a bissou (kiss) I did get a scolding! She brought us straight to her house and sat us down with a piece of paper. Her and our dear friend Honore Tiasnmal helped us plan out our 12 day adventure. This meant so much to me because words cannot describe how much anxiety I felt about the whole trip. I was excited to see everybody, but completely overwhelmed at the thought of planning it. She took care of it all and made sure that I felt completely at peace.

My mom and I agree that there are many friends that come and go in life. There are also those that come, but they never "go". We like to call them the "true blues". Mariella, you are one of those in my life--a true blue. You are one of those that I will look for when I get to heaven so that I can embrace you and share tears of joy with you. Happy Birthday fren blong mi. Mi lavem yu sista blong mi.