Happy Birthday to the Relief Society

I am currently serving in the Relief Society Presidency in our ward.  I love the Sisters in our ward and the women I work with.  I am the 2nd Counselor which puts me over what are  now referred to "Relief Society Meetings"  formerly known as "Enrichment."  Everyone that knows me is not laughing out loud!  Totally not my cup of tea!  Thank Heavens for a great committe chair who is oozing with creativity!!!  

One of our big activities is the Relief Society Birthday Party.  Our theme was Soar to New Heights:  You are one of a kind.  We had a great turn out and it truly was an incredible evening!  We made a "place holder" for each sister with all of their unique and "one of a kind" characteristics. 

The decorations turned out awesome!  Again, my comittee chair Jenny Robbins is SO talented.  Here she is hanging up our banners.  Seriously???  LOVE HER!!

I truly have the BEST committee.  Often times these committees have several members who are a "little less helpful."  Not mine!  Every member of  the committee came and worked all day and cleaned up all night.  These ladies are a huge blessing in my life.  I also LOVE spending time with them!!  Here are a few photos of what the final product looked like.

It really turned out beautiful.  My good friend Deb Miles did the program.  She spoke and sang.  Her testimony and her talent are both incredible!  Sister Susan Reeder made these incredible cupcakes (which none of us photographed!!) for everyone.  She is so talented, they were beautiful!!  

We had an incredible fun and spiritual evening and I am truly blessed to rub shoulders with all of these ladies.  I love them all!!!  

2 Fabulous Years!

 On March 5th Jeff and I had our second anniversary.  We were in Cabo, which was perfect. I can honestly say that getting married to Jeff was the best decision I have ever made.  He amazes me every day.  Jeff is funny and smart and totally makes me feel unconditionally loved.  I am absolutely blessed.  Jeff makes me laugh (hard) and is an incredible support of everything I do!  

I am grateful to JT for loving me and all 5 of our children.  I am grateful to him for being forgiving and humble (2 things I struggle at).  I honestly hope that I can be half as good a person as he is!  

 I had to add this picture.  How many men can pull off Zebra spandex?  Like I said,  he makes me laugh!!

Happy Anniversary!  It certainly has been 2 incredible years!

Thing 1 and Thing 2

A few Fridays ago the kids were celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday at Mountainside Elementary.  Jord wanted to be Thing 1.  That same Friday was the day Jeff and I were leaving for Mexico.  So, as Jord does every morning she runs over to Aunt Kim's.  Our friends come and pick us up to head to the airport and in the bus line I see Jordan and Samantha dressed EXACTLY like.  Not planned, I swear!

I stole the picture and description below right off Kim's blog!

This was totally unplanned!! Today was Dr. Suess day at the school and the kids could dress as any character from any book.  Jordan showed up at our door today for her morning visit dressed in Thing 1...all red clothes and bright blue hair.   Hillariously Samantha was also dressed identical and as Thing 1.  We laughed and then quickly Samantha said I should be thing 2. Seeing as how the bus was coming in about 1 minute she ditched her cute sign, and took a paper-plate cut it out and wrote thing 2 on it...and away they went!!  What a fun coincidence!

I love it!!  

I also had to add this photo.  This is Taylor and Brytan (her BFF) in Kindergarten on Dr. Suess's birthday!

Thing 1 and Thing 2

How adorable is that?  I love these two girls!  

Best Week Ever!!

Last Friday Scott and Jenae picked up Jeff and I and we headed to Cabo.  Scott had rented a house and it was DELIGHTFUL!  We had the best time!  This post may be long and I hate to bore you but I want to remember the details of this vacation for a long time!  

Once we landed in Cabo we got our car.  Scott is an EXCELLENT cook so we headed to the grocery store to stock up.  We were looking for something in the store and Scott said "Where is the Mexican food aisle."  First time of many I laughed until my stomach hurt.  When we arrived at our house we were not disappointed!

 This was the view from our bedroom.  BEAUTIFUL!  Over the next 6 days I spent probably 25 hours sitting out there!  LOVELY!

The house had a beautiful deck that overlook the pool and ocean.  Here is a picture of the view from the deck!  So wonderful!  It is "whale" season and we watched dozens of whales from our very own porch.  Here is a view at sunset!

Scott made some awesome taco/fajitas the first night we got there.  First wonderful meal of many!!

 Scott and Jeff in the hot tub.  

This vacation was full of relaxation!  It was the perfect combination of activity and relaxation.  The first full day we were there we went to downtown Cabo and did some shopping.  We also stopped at Costco and bought more food.  We bought a HUGE bag of chocolate (like 6 or 7 lbs) and it was gone by the day we left!  The only downfall of the entire trip was in  Mexico they have Coca Cola light which does not taste AT ALL like Diet Coke.  However, Costco had a diet cola that came pretty darn close.  I was saved!!!

On Day 3 (Sunday) we went and swam with the dolphins.  Seriously SO FUN! In our tour you swam with two dolphins.  We each got to do two "swims" with them.  The first one they dragged you through the water with their fins (is that even what they are called)???

Jeff

 Jenae

Scott

 The second swim was a push.  You laid flat in the water and the dolphins pushed the base of your feet until you were standing out of the water.  AWESOME!  

 This was really one of the coolest things I have ever done.

 Underneath Jeff's feet at two dolphins... CRAZY!  Check out the lady in the background.  Jeff may or may not have needed a little help getting out of the water!

 Jenae was so graceful.  She came all the way out of the water!

Scotty...  Graceful?  You decide!

We also did several other fun little things with the dolphins...

 We watched their incredible tricks!

Kisses for everyone!!

 Seriously!!  How cute is my husband??

At the end we moved to another pool and got in Kayak's.  The dolphins swam with us there!

 Look at those dolphins jumping over our oars!  Awesome!

 We raced the dolphins the length of the pool and the jumped all over the place!

Our kids have swam with the dolphins before but none of us ever had.  It turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip!!

On Monday Jeff and Scott had booked a deep sea fishing expedition.  It lasted 8 hours, they caught two  yellow belly tunas.  We joked the entire trip about what expensive fish that was.

 Jeff reeling in his fish.  

 As the boats came back to shore the sea lions jump right up on the boats to eat the left over "bait"  How cool is that??

Scott and Jeff!  Way cute!

Jenae and I opted to stay at the house that day.  I sat by the pool for nearly 7 hours.  I made periodic trips to refill my soda and get more treats!  Fabulous day!  We both read lots and talked lots.  Jenae is PERFECT to travel with!  She is so laid back and so fun.  

That night we went to dinner at the most beautiful place!  I have already forgotten the name of the resort it was at.  It was the most charming, beautiful restaurant I have ever been too.  It was out door and built on a cliff looking over the ocean.  WOW!!

 BEAUTIFUL!!

I was in awe of the scenery!

On Tuesday we went on a whale watch during the day.  This was really cool!  I did get a little sea sick. The boats are very small which is great because it allows you to get close to the whales, but it also allows you to rock, ALOT!  Unfortunately I missed the last 20  minutes.  I had to just put my head down and close my eyes.  All in all though I would do it again!  We saw some incredible whales!

Scott took all of these pictures right off our little boat.  It was really an amazing sight!

Our last evening there we got massages by the pool.  It was so amazing and so relaxing.  I could hear the ocean in the back ground.  Simply delightful!

I truly loved our time in Paradise.  I ran nearly every day, we laughed, ate great and truly enjoyed each other's company!

Check our JT exercising right by the pool!

Here are just a few things I wanted to remember:

387 

Cinco de Mayo

Returno
Penny *****

Speed bumps and more speed bumps

Swordfish parking

Jeff standing by a cactus the WRONG way

My comedic crush on Scott

Squeaking ottoman

Rechargeable suitcases

Jeff and Scott's "swimming" suites

Full moon by the pool

And hundreds of other corny jokes that kept me laughing for days!!

Thank you to Scott and Jenae for such a wonderful time.  They are truly great friends.  We had the time of our lives.  Thank you to my incredible husband.  I fall more in love with him every day!  A week in Paradise helps that as well!  I am often truly humbled at how blessed I am.

Special Thanks to my sweet Taylor for being brave without me.  My mom for putting in COUNTLESS hours with my girls and all of Taylor's appointments.  My Dad for helping with the girls, for cooking special breakfasts for them.  Kim for staying here 2 nights and for loving Jord just like she is her own.  Kim knows Jordan's schedule just as good as I do!  Jord even called Kim from school one day needing "kanka."  Truly Jord just needed a hug from Kim!  Shea for helping Taylor with her homework and taking care of all the Watrin kids while Kim was taking care of mine.  Jill for keeping Taylor company, driving the girls around and fixing Taylor's crutches!  I am truly a blessed girl!!  

OUCH!

Last Wednesday (2 days before Jeff and I were planning on leaving to Mexico) Jeff and I were at a meeting at the church.  I received a text from Taylor's friend Lucy.  Lucy is ALWAYS joking.  Since I was in a meeting I ignored it.  At a break in the meeting I read the text and it said, "Taylor is hurt, and I am not kidding."  Right as I was reading the text Taylor's coach called me and said to meet him at the Instacare.  He told us Taylor had been having what he felt like were leg cramps for about 30 minutes.  Jeff and I hoped in the car.  On the way to Instacare we called Aunt Kim who ran across the street and grabbed Jordan.  Seriously, what did we do before we lived across the street from the Watrins??

Anyway, when we arrived at Instacare Tay was in a wheelchair.  She was crying,  Lucy was crying, Kaycee (coach's daughter) was crying and April (Lucy's mom) who had meet us at Instacare was near tears.  You have heard me say how much I love these people??  This is why!  Taylor was in so much pain that even the lady (whose son happens to go to school with Taylor) started crying just watching her.

The Doctors at Instacare aren't really trained in sports injuries but they were really great to Tay.  They gave her a shot for pain and then pain medication, which saved our lives!

Look at poor Tay's face.  We were trying to tell her funny things but it didn't work so well!

 If this isn't the most tender picture?  That night Tay actually preferred Jeff to me.  When she had to get shots and her blood taken it was his hand she wanted to hold.  He certainly takes great care off all of us and Tay's trust in him showed that night.  Love them both beyond words!  

Here is my sweet girl 1 week later!  She has a torn calf muscle.  After two trips to the Orthopedic Dr and two physical therapy apts.  The Dr put her in a boot to help keep her foot at a 90 degree angle.  The boot has already helped tremendously!  Today her Dr told her at least 6 weeks until she could start to use her leg in any way.  She cried right there on the examining table.  Her first game of the Spring season is in 4 weeks.  Life lessons come in all forms.  When you CAN'T do something it only reaffirms your love for it!

I mentioned above that Jeff and I were supposed to go to Mexico.  I think I cried more tears on Thursday than I have in a long time.  After talks with Kim, Taylor and my Mom we went.  Truth be told..  I still feel a little guilty.  We had an incredible time (look for details on the trip in my next post).  I can't ever thank my Mom, Dad, Kim, Shea and Jill enough for taking care of Taylor.  My Mom put in SO many hours last week.  Kim slept over several nights, which meant that Shea was taking care of their kids alone.  Jill fixed crutches, drove my kids around and because Jill is more of a sister to Tay than an aunt provided some really good company.  I am seriously humbled by the acts of kindness my family received last week.  Thank you all and I love you.

I knew Taylor was my right hand woman but until I didn't have her as a helper I never realized just how much she does!!  What a wonderful girl!

One a funnier note...  Evidentially Jord didn't want to be left out.  She used an old walker we have here and hobbled around the house for several days.  I need to recreate a photo!  Martha Fern!!