10 days and counting

Jerom had his farewell on Sunday. It was amazing and he did an excellent job. I am so impressed with him and all that he has become. He leaves me in awe most of the time. He will be a blessing to the people of Guatemala and they will be a blessing to him. Sunday was a very emotional day and I was left with a little time to reflect on my life. I am almost 30 and so grateful for the path that I have traveled. I have been humbled, found true love and experienced both wonderful ups and terrible downs. I am grateful for the wonderful gift of the Gospel and that I am privileged to have it in my life. I have learned for myself the truth that comes from Christ and his never ending love and patience he has for me. I am grateful for the atonement and the chance that I have to become better each and every day. I am so thankful for those of you who have been such an impact on my life. I have surrounded myself with amazing people and I am grateful to you for loving me and my family. Jer, I love you so much and will miss you terribly but I know you are making the right choice and will forever be blessed because of it. I appreciate the example you are to my kids and myself. You are amazing, good luck!!

The Arnell Family Camping Trip

What a weekend, we left on Thursday July 10th for a fun filled camp out with the Arnell family. We all met up at Pineview Res. in Huntsville Utah. It is a very beautiful place. We unloaded our tents, chairs and coolers and set up camp. Connie and Blake were there along with all of the Arnell kids except Crystal (we missed you tons). We hung out by the fire, played on the beach and even boated a bit. Swayz was able to ride in the tubes with her cousins. At first I wasn't so sure about it, but Shane calmed me down and off they went. She had a blast, it was her favorite thing she did. In order for Shane and I to relax we had to think of something to do with Michael. He is so fun but he is also fast and into everything. Shane came up with the idea to create a leash for him. So that is exactly what we did. We bought one of those little backpacks with a leash on it and then tied that to a long rope, we then tied the rope to a tree. It was ingenious, Michael was safe and we were able to relax a little. After three days of camping we were ready to come home! We had tons of fun and can't wait until next year.

Holy Cow I have a 4 Year Old!!!

June 26th is a very special day for our little family. Shane and I were married on that day and one year later Swayz was born (on that day). It's kind of nice, I know that Shane will never forget our anniversary, but celebrating everything gets a little tricky. This is the first year Swayz showed interest in having a friend birthday party. It started in February. "Hey mom how many friends are coming to my party." "Mom when do we send out my invitations." And so on... She decided on a Princess theme mixed with a water party. She talked about it almost every day and then finally it was here. We had the party at my parents house and she had a blast. We had a slip and slid, pinata and the coolest princess cake ever. She loved it and I was grateful when it was over. We also celebrated her birthday with just the family. My mom, grandma, brother, Mikey, Swayz and I headed out on her actual birthday to Build A Bear. She picked out a teddy bear and named her KALA. (I am not sure where she got the name from) then we went to lunch. We had a great time celebrating and Swayz felt like a Princess.

To Fish or not to Fish...

I had an amazing idea one day, it was to take the family fishing. We found out when Utah's free fish day was and off we went. We left around 10:00 a.m., our first stop was walmart where we bought Swayz her first fishing poll. She was so excited, she got to pick her poll out all by herself. It was the right size and it even had Dora the Explorer on it. Then we had to get bait and a few other things we were missing. We made it up AF canyon around 12:00. I had high expectations (this was my first mistake) I was sure that Michael would love sitting in his stroller watching us fish and that Swayz would think this was the coolest thing ever and want to stay for a couple of hours. We set up our little fishing area with chairs and a cooler and wouldn't you know, Michael wanted out of his stroller. I took him out and within seconds he was headed for the water. Mistake number two, thinking a stroller would contain a 1 year old. It took about 30 min. to get Mikey under control and now we were helping Swayz get her new poll ready to fish. Shane handed me a poll and told me to cast it out into the water. No problem, I have done this before. I pushed the line down, pulled down a little lever and swung the poll. I waited to see the hook hit the water, it must be really far out there because it hadn't hit yet. As a couple of seconds passed I realized there was a problem. Mistake number three, I don't know how to cast a fishing poll!! Shane came over and we both looked up. In the branches of the beautiful tree above us was my wonderful fishing line. It was stuck and Shane wasn't too happy. About 30 min. later we were again ready to cast out and catch a fish. Shane helped Swayz cast her fishing poll out and handed it to her. Then he did mine. By the time mine was cast into the water Swayz had reeled hers in again. Mistake number four, Swayz wasn't interested in fishing, just casting her poll and reeling it in again. About 5 min later Swayz was done fishing and ready to leave. Just to give you a little recap we spent all of 1 hour fishing- well trying to fish. 55 min. were spent getting everything ready and 5 min. spent with our polls actually in the water. Although things didn't turn out they way I was hoping we loved it and had a great time. No, we wont be back for a few years but at least we can say we tried!!