Brady Bliss

New Year's Eve

2012-01-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Darin and I decided to throw a New Year's Eve party this year. With our fun new TV and our kinect games, we thought it would be really fun to host a party. So we invited all of our family members over and had yummy appetizers and played games. It was a great party! We were so glad so many people joined us.

It's finally midnight! Welcome 2012!!

Homemade Christmas

2012-01-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

Ever since Darin and I got married, I have tried to do mainly homemade Christmas presents. But this year I didn't take on as much as I usually do.

I drew Kristen's name and decided to make her a fun apron. I really love how it turned out, I think it is so much fun. The red ric-rac is my favorite part. I even got to use my fun tags I got from Polly last Christmas.

I also hand embroidered 9 flour sack towels for my mom, Erin and Krystal. Each one with a different theme.

Erin got flowers, breads and tea

My mom got Russian nesting dolls (which are my favorites), desserts and a momma bird with her baby birds

Krystal got a cool geometric pattern, retro kitchen appliances and gnomes.

Even though it doesn't look like much, these towels were A LOT of work! Some took me hours and hours to complete. I worked on them the entire month of December. But it was a really fun project and I'm so glad they loved them.

My other homemade gift was Jason's jedi pants, but I was too sick to get a picture of those. They were just basic tan pants.

I love making a homemade Christmas for my family.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas this year...or I guess I should say last year, since we are already into the new year!

On the night of the 22nd, Darin and I cam down with a horrible stomach flu. We were both so miserable and it was absolutely the worst timing ever. We couldn't keep anything down and I ended up losing 5 pounds in 2 days. But somehow, we still managed to make it through the holidays.

Our Christmas tree, all decked out with presents.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to Darin's parent's house to do presents. We had to make different arrangements this year because Christmas was on a Sunday and we had to go to church in the morning. The kids were so excited to get started!

Darin's parents gave me the book Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy. Darin and I listened to Daddy Long Legs on our way to Disneyland and we loved it.

During most of the present opening, I got to snuggle with Grace. So we didn't take very many pictures that night.

We drew Emilio's name and one of his presents from us was a pair of Mickey Mouse pajama pants. He was so excited!

Darin got a Rangers Apprentice book from his parents.

Shawn and Kristen got me the movie Cranford.

After we finished opening presents, we went home to get to bed. We were going to have a big day tomorrow and had an early start. Here we are in our traditional picture in our Christmas jammies.

Santa came to visit us!

After we did our stockings, we opened presents by the tree. Darin got me 3 different Disney drawing books. Ever since we did drawing at Disneyland, I have loved doing this at home. I was really excited about these presents and so surprised Darin gave them to me.

Darin also got me a pink Kitchen Aid Blender. All my other kitchen appliances from my mom are pink, so Darin got me the last item to complete my collection. I was so happy!

Darin's big gift this year was an ice cream maker. He told me he always wanted one. If you know Darin, you know he is a major ice cream fanatic. This one is a 6 quart, industrial strength ice cream maker.

He also got a nice new belt for Christmas.

And a new leather wallet. Which was highly needed as his old one had velcro on it! Definitely time to upgrade.

I also got him a recipe book for tons of homemade ice cream flavors.

My last gift from Darin was a small desk and chair for my sewing room. This desk was for my serger. Before, I had both my sewing machine and serger on the same desk and it was much too cramped. I love my new table!

I know, I know, all these presents should be more than enough. But we also got ourselves a big family present. Introducing our new beautiful 55" plasma TV and new TV stand. Darin was so excited for the new TV and I was really excited about the new furniture! :)

After we opened presents, we got ready and headed to Darin's parents to go to church with them. I got a surprise that morning. Susan gave me Rose in Bloom, a book I absolutely love.

After church we had our traditional Christmas breakfast. Richard made bacon, sausage and eggs and we also had yummy waffles. This was the first real meal I had had in 2 days.

After breakfast, we headed up to Jason's house to open presents with my family. We didn't do a very good job taking pictures of the presents given to us, just of the ones we gave. Oops!

I hand embroidered kitchen towels for my mom, Erin and Krystal.

I made Jason some Jedi pants to go with his robe from last year. I finished them about 2 hours before the puking on the 22nd started!

We all pitched in together to get my mom this beautiful table for her front room. It is to take the place of the piano she gave us. Mom absolutely loved it, we were so happy.

One of the only pictures of one of my presents. Darling grey boots from Krystal. I love them!

I had my friend Natalie knit this cute grey and orange hat for Krystal.

We gave Erin a new platter. She loves things for hosting parties.

After all the adults opened presents, Liam and Ashlynn woke up from their naps and we did presents with them. Things definitely became chaotic.

My grandma and Ashlynn!

I started get sick again, so I took it easy the rest of the day. Krystal and Jason got the same stomach flu that Darin and I did. So the four of us didn't really eat dinner. It was a lame way to end the holiday.

This year for Christmas, I was assigned pies. I had never made a homemade pie before, and my aunt's pies are famous, so I was terrified to be in charge of them this year. I spent 5 hours on Christmas Eve making crusts and baking. But surprisingly enough, they turned out great. Everyone raved about them, I was so relieved. Unfortunately I did so well, that my aunt vows never to make pies again and they will always be my responsibility. Oh great!

Christmas date night

2012-01-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

Darin's work Christmas party is usually a fancy affair. So we dressed up for the occasion and had a wonderful date night. Personally I love any reason to dress up and get all fancy. I wish our generation did more of this on a regular basis like in olden times. Oh well, I can at least look forward to it once a year!

And yes, I wore my Shabby Apple dress to both Christmas parties. But I don't care, I love it!

Christmas family photo 2011

2012-01-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

Last year we started a tradition to take a family picture around Christmas time. This is our family picture for 2011. We took a ton of pictures to try to get this one good one. Not because of the kids, but because of Jason. That boy cannot take a serious picture if his life depended on it!

We also did a picture of Ashlynn and Liam together. Aren't they so cute?

Christmas Carol Sing-a-long

2012-01-01T16:33:00.000-07:00

December is typically our month to host Sunday family dinner. This year, Darin and I decided to invite extended family for dinner. We also planned on turning it into a family sing-a-long. We talk about doing something like this every year, but never have. But now that we have my mother's piano, it was finally time to turn this into reality.

I ordered a big book of Christmas songs from Amazon.com and Darin and I practiced our little hearts out the whole month of November. We were pretty nervous to host this sing-a-long because we weren't sure if everyone would actually like to do it or thought it was lame. But actually, it turned out to be a wonderful night spending it together with family. We had a delicious dinner of homemade chicken pot pie (thanks to my awesome recipe from Pioneer Woman) salad, squash, green beans and homemade apple turnovers. Yummy in our tummies!

Then came the singing. I had 2 songs that I was going to play, which seemed insane because I haven't really played the piano since I was 15, and I was never really good at it back then. So needless to say, I was terrified! But the whole night turned out great and we had a wonderful time with family. My grandma even joined in the singing, which is a precious memory to me!

Thank you everyone who came and joined in the singing. It was such a great night for us. And hopefully a new tradition we'll continue on for years to come!

Incentives sure do work!

2012-01-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

Darin is by far the most wonderful and supportive husband ever! I was feeling pretty down that I wasn't working out as much as I knew I should. So he came up with a plan to help me get my bum off the couch. I told him there were some boots I wanted to order on DSW.com. He told me I could order them, but I couldn't wear them until I had worked out 10 times. It was just the incentive I needed.

On our dry erase board, I checked off every day I worked out. When I got closer, I was so excited to earn my boots. I even worked out on Thanksgiving day in order to earn those boots fast!

Here I am, 10 days checked off. Hooray!

And here are the taupe suede boots I was working for. I love them!

And I earned them just in time to wear them to my mom's work Christmas party. Here I am also in my new Shabby Apple dress! I have always wanted a Shabby Apple dress, and one of my sales reps sent me a bonus for helping her so much. She said I had to buy something fun with the money, so I chose to buy this new dress!

Thank you Darin for always helping and supporting me in trying to be healthy. I love you!

Let's catch up

2012-01-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm still working to get everything caught up on my blog. This post is dedicated to pretty much everything that happened since coming home from Disneyland, up until the beginning of December.

We had a FHE up at Silver Lake to see all the beautiful Fall colors, eat some yummy chili and cornbread for dinner and walk around the lake. It was a wonderful night.

In the beginning of October, we celebrated Krystal's 33rd birthday. We had dinner at El Matador and presents and pie at my mom's house. Boy does Ashlynn love chips and salsa!

I made Krystal this quilted table runner for her kitchen.

My mom gave us her piano. We absolutely LOVE it and the music it brings into our home. This is our front room before...

And after with the piano...all decorated for Halloween.

The day before Halloween we had Sunday dinner over at Jason and Erin's. Their family dressed up in a Star Wars theme. Jason wore the Jedi robe I made him last Christmas. Doesn't Liam look like the cutest ewok ever?

Darin was a knight and I was some sort of goth thing. I made my skeleton skirt, it was super easy.

Mom and Krystal wore the ears we brought them back from our trip.

Then on Halloween, Darin and I had a jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner and waited for the trick or treaters to come. We played scary music, lit up the outside of the house with luminaries that I made from old bottles and watch an Alfred Hitchcock marathon on TV. Later we visited the haunted house in our neighborhood. It was so much fun!

Sadie loved greeting the trick-or-treaters in her pumpkin costume!

In the beginning of November, Sadie completed her 6 week training course and graduated at the top of her class. I'm not bragging or anything, but she definitely was the fastest learner in the class. We were so proud of her.

She even got to eat doggy ice cream. She was the only dog who actually ate it. I guess she takes after Darin!

Sadie loved having play time with other dogs. I think she really misses them.

Sadie's trainer, Kylie

We had Thanksgiving over at Maria and Emilio's house.

The day after Thanksgiving, we got our Christmas tree!

In the beginning of December, our Nephew Eric turned 8 and got baptized. It was such a wonderful day watching him become a member of the church! He was so happy and his parent's were so proud of him, just like we all were!

We also had a fun party for him at Hollywood Connection. Eric was so sneaky at laser tag! He was a pro!

Well, there you have it. All the fun things we've been doing lately!

How does your garden grow

2011-12-27T15:06:00.003-07:00

I know it might seem strange to be posting about gardening, especially since it is the end of December. But I've been saving all of my gardening pictures until the end of the harvest, and then I got behind on my blog. And I need to post this so I get credit for my Faith Personal Progress value project!

When Darin and I were house hunting, one of our desires for a yard was a spot for a garden. We really wanted one of our own. The place for our garden is where the previous home owners had their dog run and shed. It is really shaded by a lot of surrounding trees, and not from just our yard. It probably wasn't the most desirable spot for a garden, but it was our only option. A lot of people were skeptical about the type of garden we would get from it, but we had to just try it out and see how it would do the first year. There was no other way of knowing but to try.

We had a really late Spring this year, so it took a while for us to get out in our garden to start working on the land. By the time it got dry enough, this is what it looked like! Yikes, it was completely taken over by weeds. Plus the area that held the shed was full of gravel. Let's just say it was NOT fun clearing it out.

That's a lot of weeds to pull!

Do you like how we are using a little red wagon to hold our weeds? We didn't have a wheel barrow and the previous home owners left it behind. So we became resourceful! Darin got a wheel barrow for Father's day this year. Not an exciting present, but he loved it and it has really come in handy.

Sadie, as a little baby puppy, was always eager to watch us working in the garden.

Around that same time, I also planted seeds for my own little herb garden.

I took over the weeding of the garden because Darin said he didn't like pulling weeds. Well hello, nobody does!! But he started working on building the brick wall, so I guess it was a fair trade! Marian was incredibly awesome to donate her unused bricks for our wall. And boy were they heavy. I nearly died when I had to lift them.

The wall is finished! We only needed to add the cap stones.

The garden is all cleared...finally!

Time to add the good stuff to it.

Sadie, a little older, but still watching the progress on the garden!

I emptied all the bags and Darin raked to spread it out.

My mom generously loaned us her tiller so we could mix it all in really well.

I think Sadie is thinking, "How long are you guys going to work on this garden? Sheesh!"

While Darin tilled, I took pictures of the plants we were also adding to our yard. This is a really pretty peony.

Hydrangea - my favorite flower!

Look how great my herbs and strawberries are doing!

Forsythia bush

I got the garden planted on the first weekend in June. A little later than we wanted to, but we had a lot of work to get to this point. No action pictures here because Darin was sick the day I planted.

Finally by mid August we started getting to see the fruits of our labors!

Check out how that small garden just blossomed!! Take that doubters!

By early September my mom was showing me how to can tomatoes for my food storage.

After we got home from our trip to California, we were still getting lots from our garden.

I planted pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds and cantaloupe seeds. But birds got to them before they germinated. I was so mad! But they didn't get all my pumpkin seeds and we got quite a few baby ones.

And one slightly smaller full sized pumpkin - just in time to decorate for Halloween!

Our garden was a lot of work, but so worth it. We didn't get as much out of it that I was hoping for, but then again, there are just the two of us and we sometimes were getting more than we could eat before it went bad. I absolutely LOVED going out into my garden after work to see what was ready for picking so I could cook it with dinner. I think Darin was getting sick of eating a lot of zucchini, but I was loving it!

Now that it is winter and harvest time is over, I am really missing my garden. I can't wait until we can have another one next summer. Hopefully it won't be as much work as it was this year. And I learned a few things that I am going to do different next year. Which is all a part of life, right? :)

Disney Characters

2011-12-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

This blog post is cursed! I tried to upload it 3 different times. Hopefully this time it will work for good!

I promise this is the last blog post on Disneyland and then this blog will get back to normal!

The first time I went to Disneyland, I was 8 years old. I remember being inside the Emporium store on main street and I saw a stack of autograph books. I wanted one so bad! I asked my parents if I could get one and my dad told me no. He said that he wasn't going to waste his money on something like that. I remember being so disappointed.

Well, I have been to Disneyland many, many times since that first trip. And I still longed for that autograph book. But then I figured I was too old to have one, and nobody would want to spend the time for me getting autographs anyway. But this year, we knew we would have all the time we needed and could spend them doing whatever we wanted. I told Darin about my childhood memory and he said that we had plenty of time on the trip that we could do it if I wanted to. I was so excited!

So the first thing we did the moment we entered the gates was head right to the Emporium. I HAD to buy my book there. I got my official autograph book and autograph pen. Finally, after 23 years of waiting, I would be able to get autographs in Disneyland.

And yes, there absolutely was a part of me that felt like an idiot for doing it. Yes, I realize I am 31 years old and want autographs of the characters in Disneyland...something that only a little kids would want to do. But I guess that's the magical thing about Disneyland, is there is no such thing as age when you enter that park. And when I handed my book to the characters, they never made me feel stupid or silly about it. Oh how I love that place!

The lady I bought my book from was so incredibly nice. She's the one who gave us our anniversary pins.

Pixie Hollow - my first official autograph and picture with a character! Iradessa

Tinker Bell

LOVE how Pluto has to see the sign the book. Too funny.

Donald Duck

Goofy

Gapetto

Mary Poppins and Bert

Jasmine and the Genie

Jack and Sally were so awesome. They were perfect and spoke just like them. It was fun to talk to them while they signed my book.

When we were in Toon Town, we walked through Mickey's house and at the end you can meet Mickey. So we got a picture with him. But it didn't feel like we earned that photo or autograph. So I still wanted one of him on the street.

The second day in Disneyland we were in California Adventure and got in line for Woody. Then when it was almost our turn, Buzz came over and took over. That was ok, so we walked up to him and I handed him my book. He just stood there and wouldn't take it. I didn't know what to do and asked if he signed autographs. Well of course they don't talk, so it was totally awkward. I didn't understand why he couldn't sign because he had regular gloved hands. So stupid. Let's just say, he was the biggest disappointment of all, and now I can't look at Buzz the same way anymore!

Scully and Boo...but they of course can't sign and that made total sense to me.

The best part of Day 2 was getting to have lunch at Ariel's Grotto. I have wanted to do a character dining for so long. And this time we totally splurged. Darin only agreed because I was guaranteed 5 princesses and we didn't have to wait in line at Princess Fantasy Fair!

Ariel

Darin wore his Prince Philip shirt. He is such a good sport!

Princess Aurora, my absolute favorite (and a much better experience with her than the last time)

Belle - notice I am wearing a Snow White tee shirt (I couldn't find a cute Sleeping Beauty one). She saw what I was wearing and what Darin was wearing and said, "You know, those two don't go together!" It was funny.

Not to be rude, but I didn't think Snow White was very good...I've seen much better Snow White's than the one we got.

Cinderella was awesome. She was the one princess who took the longest to get to our table, and that's because she spent lots of time at every table. She was really fun.

I was so excited for my first character dining experience. It was so much fun. The food was good, I got all the best princesses and we didn't have to wait in line! So grateful to Darin for indulging me!

Then as soon as we got done with lunch, we ran into Chip and Dale. They were so darn cute and wrote Happy Anniversary in our book. Plus they wanted to do way fun poses with us.

I am doing a heart with Dale and Darin is doing back to back with Chip

Cruella De Vil - she was perfect at being an absolute snot!

Love the faces she pulled

Day 3 - our only character and it was the official Mickey on main street!

Day 4 was our second character dining experience - an early morning breakfast with Minnie and friends

As soon as they sat us at our table, Minnie slid over and signed our book and got a picture. I wasn't expecting it to be that fast!

Chip came over, but Dale skipped us. That's ok, we already got them!

The Fairy Godmother - I loved her, she was so cute.

But I have to say, Eeyore was the cutest. I had to ask if he signed and he nodded yes. I had to check because he had big paws and I didn't want another "Buzz" experience.

See how cute he is?

Tigger

Winnie the Pooh

Then all of a sudden, Minnie showed up again. I didn't know what to do and so we took another picture with her. Then she insisted on signing our book! So we let her. Well, the signature was different, so my guess is our first Minnie was on a break and this was a new Minnie.

The best part about going during Halloween time is you also get the villains! Here we are will Jafar.

Honest John - but he signed our book as Foul Fellow. We didn't get it and had to google it when we got home.

The evil queen was also very awesome about being in character and acting bratty

Captain Hook

Queen of Hearts

Our last character - Rapunzel. The line for her was crazy long, but well worth it. She was darling.

Our book was full of awesome signatures and I had a great time filling it! I am so grateful to Darin for doing this for me. This is probably the main memory I will keep from this trip. I loved waiting in line with Darin and felt so grateful to him the entire time for this gift to me. I also loved walking away and looking at the different signatures I was collecting. They all were unique and customized to their character. I loved it.

And there you have it - our trip to Disneyland now fully documented! Thank goodness.

Disneyland - Day 5

2011-11-16T11:59:00.001-07:00

Our last day in Disneyland was so emotional for me. It had been such an amazing trip and I was so sad we only had one more day left. But we were determined to enjoy it to the fullest and hit any last places we hadn't visited yet. And of course, it was Friday, so the lines were insane. We had been so spoiled all week long!

Having a go at pulling out the sword. Unfortunately our big muscles were not quite enough!

Riding the Mark Twain ferry boat

Having a light lunch at the Hungry Bear. We opted for the kids meals and I loved the adorable boxes they came in.

Taking the raft over to Tom Sawyer Island and the Pirate's Lair

I have never been to Tom Sawyer Island before. It was SOOOOO much fun. I can't believe I have never done it before. You almost feel like you aren't in Disneyland anymore, it is so different. We had a blast exploring the island and playing with all the cool stuff. I can see why kids would love it here.

We found the treasure!

After coming back from the island, we hit the horrendously long line for Big Thunder. As soon as we got close to going up the stairs, the ride broke down and we all had to leave. It was so frustrating. So we hit Main Street and got some much needed ice cream!

Taking a drive in Autopia. Forever Krystal and I would call this ride Autotopia instead of Autopia. Darin corrected me on this trip. I still like my version of the name!

Getting our official driver's license!

The cars are hard to drive because you have to do the gas with your left leg, and that feels so awkward to me. So we decided to go in one car - I would steer and Darin would work the gas.

Here we are flying by!

On the monorail for a trip around the park

It is a tradition in my family to get a big pickle - especially when you are in line for Indiana Jones. It started the year I went with my mom and Krystal. Don't ask us why, but it is just fun! And those pickles are so good!

Darin chose watermelon instead.

A simple dinner on main street of chili and hot dogs!

Waiting for the famous fireworks to start and enjoying some delicious popcorn.

This is only one side of the crowd there that day. I'm telling you, it was insane how many people were there!

Leaving the park. We decided to leave after the fireworks were over. There was still about 2 hours left that the park was open, but my blisters were hurting and we were tired. We figured we had done everything we wanted to do and nothing more could make the trip any better.

I nearly started crying when we were leaving. Not only because I love Disneyland so much, but because of the amazing trip I had just experienced with my husband. It was so special and meant so much to me to be able to be there with Darin. I was sad that it was going to be over. It made me so emotional. I am so very grateful for this wonderful experience we had together. I will cherish these memories forever!

Check out all those bags of souvenirs. Yep, we had fun shopping!

Disneyland - Day 4

2011-10-28T15:08:00.000-06:00

On our 4th day in Disneyland we didn't hit very many rides, but still got to do a lot of fun things. I finally rode on the Astro Orbitor. I have never done this ride because the lines were always too long and I think my family thought it would be lame. But in mine and Darin's quest to hit every ride in Disneyland, we finally did it this year. It was so funny because the cast member came up to me because I was having a hard time adjusting my seat belt. He told me that they don't adjust and are just really big to accommodate more people. So really, what's the point in wearing it?

Finding Nemo - this line wasn't too bad, but still takes forever to load and unload the subs. I hate waiting in this line, so I'm glad it wasn't too long.

Darin loves the Innoventions building, so we made sure we made a trip inside. Of course Darin found the X Box Kinect section and had to play a little!

Lunch at the River Belle Terrace. This place has yummy food and is so darn cute inside!

Tarzan's Tree house - I swear we really aren't out of shape, but for some reason climbing all the way to the top was so hard on us. We were huffing and puffing and our legs were sore for a few days. I promise, it is a long way up to the top! Plus we had just finished lunch, so that could have been it too.

We finally made it!

Gotta get the classic picture in front of the Mickey face/Disneyland Railroad!

We headed over to California Adventure to get cooled off on Grizzly River Run.

Our one and only ride on Tower of Terror. This makes Darin sick, so he put it off until day 4. I LOVE this ride, so only going once was a little sad for me. But I wasn't about to ride it alone, that's lame!

Taking a much needed break in the Animation Academy. We got to draw Winnie the Pooh and Goofy.

Then we headed to the Sorcerer's Workshop to find out what Disney character we were. I was Lady and Darin was Cogsworth, which I think is pretty right on, but Darin wasn't too happy about it. We also did the character voices which was so much fun! We did a scene from Beauty and the Beast and sang along to the Bare Necessities.

Back in Disneyland for the evening - riding Big Thunder

I love seeing the castle all lit up at night, so pretty!

Thursday was the day we bought all of our souvenirs, so we spent the majority of the evening going to the different stores to get our goods. We always plan to get our stuff on the second to last day because it gives us time to look for what we want during the week, we don't have to carry it around all day, and we still have one more day in the park just in case we decide on any last minute items. Let's just say we spent a lot of money this day...and it was so much fun!! :)

Disneyland - Day 3

2011-10-28T10:38:00.000-06:00

On our 3rd day in Disneyland, we headed right to the Jazz Kitchen Express for breakfast! This place quickly became our favorite stop. The breakfast was really good and very affordable. Plus, we needed some more beignets!

We wanted our first stop in the park to be at the castle so we could get a good castle picture before it got too busy. The Disney photographer was so fun and had us do all these cute poses in front of it. It was great!

Darin was still suffering from tummy issues, so we took the morning easy and hit some rides in Fantasy Land. Here we are on Dumbo!

Casey Jr

Mr Toad's Wild Ride...one of my faves!

Storybook Land - I recently discovered this ride when I went in 2008 with my mom and sister. It is so darling. I love all the little houses and castles!

After finishing our rides in Fantasy Land, it was about noon and it was getting really hot and my new flip flops were giving me blisters between my toes. So we headed to the first aid station to get me some band aids. They didn't really help, so walking around was starting to hurt and I wasn't sure how I was going to last the rest of the day. We wanted corn dogs for lunch, but the best place to get them is at the corn dog castle in California Adventure. So we headed over there.

By the time we got there, I was starting to lose it. I was hot, tired, cranky and my feet were killing me. Definitely not a great mood to be in at the happiest place on earth! We found a place for me to sit for a little, while Darin got our lunch. I felt terrible and didn't want to be having a bad time on the trip. So while eating lunch Darin said, "I'm going to suggest something that might sound blasphemous. But how about we go back to the hotel for a little while?" I had to sit and consider that as an option, which would never have been an option to me before. I finally decided that we were only on day 3 and still had 2 more days of vacation. I couldn't walk in those shoes any more and a break was really what I needed. So I told Darin I thought it was a good idea.

After lunch we walked to where the shuttle picks you up from the park and we totally scored because a shuttle came right away and dropped us off right at our hotel. I went into the room and layed down while Darin went to the bathroom. 2 minutes later he came out and I was already asleep! Yep, this is what I needed! Darin let me sleep for about 30 minutes and then I woke up feeling so much better. I changed into better sneakers (my trek shoes actually) and was totally ready to hit the park again. We were only gone for about 1 hour, but it made all the difference in the world to how the rest of our day went. I'm so grateful to Darin for his suggestion and wanting what was best for me.

We hit Star Tours again and while in line we got visited by a Storm Trooper. It was so cool!

The Matterhorn - and in good spirits! Thanks heavens for naps!

Alice in Wonderland

Space Mountain - yep we got a kissing shot! :)

Resting while we wait for the parade to start

The new parade this year is awesome! It is called Mickey's Soundsational Parade and the music is great. I loved this parade! Here are a few of the highlights:

After the parade we only had about 30 minutes until the park closed. Everyone was leaving and there were no lines, so we jumped on the carousel.

After that we ran to the Haunted Mansion and practically walked on (which during this time of year is hard because everyone loves it done for Nightmare Before Christmas). Then we also just walked on Indiana Jones. Seriously, it was awesome to hit 3 rides in 30 minutes!

3 days down - 2 more to go! This was when I started feeling that panic when you know your vacation is coming to an end soon.

Disneyland - Day 2

2011-10-14T17:12:00.000-06:00

On our second day in Disneyland, we went to California Adventure first so we could pick up our Fast Passes for World of Color that evening. Then we headed to Downtown Disney to try Jazz Kitchen Express for breakfast. Our neighbor/ward member highly recommended their beignets. We had never had one before, so we thought it would be fun. OH MY GOSH...they are sooooooooo amazing! The first bite I took, I got powdered sugar all over me. But it didn't matter, I was in fried dough heaven. A beignet is a french donut, but it doesn't taste like a donut. It doesn't taste like a scone either. It is somewhere in the middle of both and it is the most heavenly creation I have ever had!

After breakfast, we went back into California Adventure because we didn't go there at all on Day 1. We hopped right on the new Ariel ride...seriously, there was absolutely no line which really surprised me as it is brand new. It was really cute.

Then off to the Silly Symphony Swings. I really liked this ride, it is way better than the swings at Lagoon. But poor Darin got sick on them. Which is funny, because he never gets sick on the swings at Lagoon!

Toy Story Mania!

It's Tough to be a Bug!

After all of this, we had a little bit of time to kill until our wonderful lunch (coming in a separate post). So we headed into the Animation Academy. I have never done this before, and always wanted to. The Disney animator showed us how to draw Donald Duck. He was a good teacher, and I was pretty proud at how my drawing turned out. Plus, this was a great way to rest our feet!

Almost no line for Soarin' Over California. We totally lucked out because this is the one line I absolutely HATE waiting in.

Back to Disneyland! Hooray! I love walking through Sleeping Beauty's Castle. She's my favorite princess.

True love's kiss!

Check out the line (or lack thereof) for Snow White. I'm telling you, September is the time to go!

I love the Tiki Room, it is so much fun! My favorite part is when it rains.

The Jungle Cruise. This is another one of Darin's favorites. He LOVES their jokes!

We finally made it all the way through Splash Mountain and didn't get kicked off!

Like my poncho over the backpack trick? It is so funny people's reaction to me wearing a poncho on this ride. I either get scathing remarks like I'm a cheater. Or people tell me I'm pretty smart.

Waiting in the long line for Star Tours

Check out our cool 3D glasses. This ride is so amazingly cool now. We got the back row, which I loved, you feel all the motions so much better. Darin got sick again. I'm pretty lucky that motion does not affect me whatsoever. Anyway, the new ride is awesome. I loved it! But unfortunately I was not the rebel spy.

End of the day and hitting Small World for a little relaxing time.

Check out that purple gorgeous sky!

Waiting for World of Color to start

I tried to take pictures, but my camera wasn't liking all the movement and colors. So they didn't really turn out. But we got good video of it. This show is incredible. I loved it. But then, I pretty much think that everything Disney does is incredible. If you haven't seen it yet, I totally recommend it! But keep in mind, you have to stand during the 30 minute show, which can be hard when you have stood on your feet all day long!

This is a fun new thing they have in between both parks.

The brand new entrance to California Adventure. They are doing a ton of remodelling to CA. It is really hard to walk around this park at this time because there are so many detours around all of the construction. But I'm sure the improvements inside are going to be great! They are making it look like Buena Vista street when Walt Disney first arrived in Hollywood. Pretty cool.

Disneyland - Day 1

2011-10-07T16:16:00.000-06:00

Darin and I woke up so excited for our first morning of Disneyland. I don't know if it was excitement, or what, but I just couldn't sleep at all that morning. So we got up early and got ready and headed to IHOP for breakfast. One word of advice - IHOP in Anaheim does not cost the same as IHOP in West Jordan!! Darin's French Toast was like $15. Crazy! Oh well, this was a splurging trip.

Because our hotel was relatively close to the park, we thought it would be easy to just walk it the first few days and not have to pay for parking. But the walk was a little bit longer than we anticipated. So we bought a 3 day shuttle pass which picks up every 20 minutes and drops you off at the park. And you can use them as many times as you want for the 3 days. That ended up being one of our best purchases.

Our goal for the entire trip was to do only what we wanted to do. And it was so nice being just the two of us because we could do just that. And we wanted to see if we could hit every ride and attraction there was in both parks. We especially wanted to do things that we've never done before. We figured with 5 days in Disneyland, we had the time to do it all and could just go at our own pace and not rush around the parks.

When we got to the park, we made our way to the Emporium (which is one of the best souvenir shops in the park) so I could get me an important item. But more on that in a different post. While there we were talking to a really nice "cast member" and she asked us about our trip and we told her that we were there for an anniversary trip. Not really explaining it was 6 months later, but who cares. She gave us the Happy Anniversary buttons to wear that day. Holy cow, wearing those buttons was the funnest thing ever. Everyone - park guests and cast members told us happy anniversary all day long. It was so much fun! We felt so special!

Because it was just me and Darin, we didn't really have anyone to take our pictures for us. So about 99% of our photos are of us pointing our camera at us. We are pros at this type of photo, but it makes it hard to see everything. Oh well, I still love our pictures. And boy did we document it all well!

We went on the Matterhorn first. This was a very controversial decision in my family. You see, it has always been my brother's decision that we must go on Star Tours the very first ride every day we go to Disneyland. We have done this for years as a tradition. But then it sort of started to bug me. So to break away from tradition and make our own decisions on our trip, we went on the Matterhorn first! In fact, because Star Tours is new this year, the line was always hours long, so we only rode it twice the entire week. Talk about blasphemy!

Tea cups came next. I love the tea cups, but Darin gets sick on a lot of rides. The only way I could convince him to do it with me is if I promised not to spin. (But I made us spin just a little!)

We decided to ride Peter Pan next because that line is always forever long no matter what time of day you go on it. So we got it out of the way pretty early on. Love this ride, but hate the line!

Having lunch at the Pizza Port

Buzz Lightyear - one of Darin's absolute favorite rides

We finally got a picture in front of the big Mickey pumpkin!

Taking a break on the Disneyland Express

Just goofing off while on the train

A view from the train. Isn't this place so magical?

Making a stop at our favorite ice cream shop - The Gibson Girl

Aladdin's lamp in Adventure Land

Indiana Jones

This is my very sad face because Pirates was closed while we were there. Seriously, this was the saddest part of the entire trip for me. It just didn't feel complete without this ride.

Haunted Mansion turned into Nightmare Before Christmas

Winnie the Pooh ride

We went on Splash Mountain next. We had a fast pass that got us all the way to where you load onto the log. It was great! But, the ride broke down right as we were going to climb the hill to go down the big splash. They turned on the lights in the ride and had us get out of the logs and go a back way to get out. It just isn't the same when you see it with lights on and stuff behind the scenes. But it was cool because they gave us a fast pass to any ride in the park.

Big Thunder Railroad. We were having a hard time with our pictures in this line, so the nice girl in the back decided to offer to take one for us!

The very back baby! Woohoo, that's the best part of the ride!

Space Mountain, which is all decked out for Halloween. I prefer normal Space Mountain myself.

The Matterhorn one more time, but in the dark!

The park was going to close in an hour, so we decided to play around in Toon Town and visit all the fun houses of our favorite characters. This is us on Donald's boat.

Minnie's house

Mickey's house

Chip and Dale's tree house

Uh oh, Darin drove into Goofy's mailbox!

The castle at night. Don't you just love it?

One of my favorite things is Main Street all lit up at night.

Our first day in the park was so full of events and so much fun. Going in September was an awesome choice because the majority of the lines were really short and we could just walk on a lot of them. I love it when it isn't crowded! Stay tuned for Day 2.

Disneyland - Getting there

2011-09-30T15:53:00.001-06:00

My blog posts on our Disneyland trip are going to be done in multiples when I find time here and there to sort through my many many pictures. On the trip we took a total of 633 pictures!! That’s a lot to sort through!

Darin and I both love Disneyland and we wanted a vacation with just the two of us. We wanted to go in April near our 2 year anniversary, but we had just gotten Sadie and wanted her to be bigger before we left her for that long. So we moved it to September. We have been saving for a fun trip to Disneyland ever since we came home from Disneyland 2 years ago! Every time we had spare cash, we stuck it in our mug. When it was time to go, we had this huge stack of bills saved! This is our spending money for our trip. It includes gas, food and any playing and souvenirs we wanted. Yep, we took $2000 cash!

Darin really wanted to drive there. I wasn’t keen on the idea at first, but when I saw how much it would save us, I was all for it. besides, having a fun road trip would be an adventure. I took the first leg of driving, which wasn’t very long. We left on Saturday morning at 6:00 AM and I drove from our home to Fillmore, which was only a few hours. Darin took the rest of the way to California. We listened to audio books and our favorite on the way there was Daddy Long Legs which was a recommendation from Darin’s mom. It was a way cute book! I also took a fun activity book to keep me occupied, and Krystal gave us some cute Disney coloring books.

The drive there actually went by really fast. It felt like we got there in no time! We arrived in Anaheim around 4:30 local time. The minute we got close to Disneyland I started to get so excited. I just couldn’t believe we had actually made it. We checked into our hotel, which was really nice, and then walked to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and then to Downtown Disney to walk around a bit. It felt amazing being in Downtown Disney! It made us so excited for Monday to come.

California Pizza Kitchen - just excited to be there and waiting for our yummy dinner to come

Walking to Downtown Disney

On Sunday we went to church at the Anaheim ward. Everybody was really nice and friendly to us. I’m sure they get tons of visitors every Sunday being so close to the parks. After church we went to Mimi’s Café for lunch and then headed back to the hotel to veg and watch TV the rest of the day. It was so nice to relax and just enjoy down time together before a busy week ahead of us.

State Fair

2011-09-15T15:59:00.000-06:00

This year Darin and I weren't sure we would be able to make it to the state fair. We are leaving on vacation soon and had lots to finish before we left. So we didn't know if we could take a night off. But we worked pretty hard Tuesday night and Wednesday morning decided we would go. I know, talk about waiting until the last minute!!

When we arrived, everyone was at the fishing pond catching fish. I didn't even know there was a pond there! Most of the cousins were fishing, but waiting for the Bucio kids to get a turn as well. Darin helped Celeste fish and had so much fun with her. She was the first of the three to catch one!

She doesn't look happy in this picture, but I promise, she was excited and was jumping up and down after I took it!

Raquel was next, but didn't want to touch it.

Eric was last, but the only brave one to actually hold the fish and let him go.

This was my first year experiencing little hands on the farm. That area is so dang cute. It was so fun to go through it with my nieces and nephews.

This was also my first year experiencing the big yellow slide. Bryan works for Poll Sound and so his family members get to ride the slide for free.

Us at the top. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous to do it. It was Darin's first trip down too, so we went together. It was fun!

The butter sculpture this year is of the royal wedding.

And of course the traditional horse pull!

We had fun at the state fair and were glad we were able to sneak away from our chores to enjoy a night off. And I totally cheated and shared a funnel cake with Darin and ate Chinese food. Totally not a part of my new nutrition program from our doctor, but my mind is already totally in vacation mode. Oh well, guess I'm working extra hard when we get back from Disneyland.

And did you check out the time at the top? Only 2 days from today!! We are so very excited to go on vacation! It is going to be so great. Darin and I are really looking forward to a great time in the happiest place on earth...just the two of us!

And one last thing...I'm so proud of myself for getting a blog post up the day after it happened. Seriously, that rarely happens anymore! :)

Family camping trip

2011-09-09T14:39:00.000-06:00

I love camping. We are definitely a camping family. But when we thought there were no plans for our family to go camping this summer, I was bummed. So I started looking at availability at campsites so we could go for at least a long weekend. When I was looking in June I thought it would be hard to find a spot, but there were still openings at Smith and Morehouse in August, so we booked the last weekend in August for a fun little trip with my mom and Krystal. We were really excited because this was going to be Sadie’s first camping trip and we really hoped she would like camping!

We went up Thursday afternoon and were staying until Saturday afternoon. We planned nothing for this trip except for relaxing and enjoying time together. And it was so nice. Of course camping is still a lot of work, but it is so worth it. I especially enjoyed playing games together and all the snacking! Why is it that you always feel hungry and want to snack while camping? And boy did we eat well!

Hanging out and killing time coloring

We got this rope so Sadie could be tied up, but still wander around and explore. She was surprisingly territorial over our spot. She didn't like it when people walked down the path near us!

Chopping our firewood!

Down by the creek near our spot

Krystal bought the coconut covered marshmallows to roast. They were soooooo good. Normally I don't like roasted marshmallows, but these ones tasted like warm roasted macaroons. Yummy!

Cooking breakfast in our PJ's!

Sipping cocoa and waiting for breakfast.

Darin and I took Sadie down to the creek on our second day of camping. We wanted to see how she would react to water. She absolutely LOVED it. She jump in with total abandon and was a little surprised that it was deeper than she expected. So we took her to a shallow spot to play in. This is Darin carrying her across the log bridge.

After lots of playing in the water, we had a very wet puppy!

She gets very heavy when she's wet!

Posing with me!

Mom making a yummy breakfast of potato pancakes!

Darin's turn for dish duty!

Now that's a very crammed car. Poor Sadie was like a sardine!

Family photo on our last morning together.

Thanks Mom and Krystal for such a fun camping trip. We had a blast and were so glad to share a fun weekend with you two!!

Sadie's surgery

2011-09-07T16:54:00.000-06:00

When we got Sadie, we knew we didn’t want to breed her and made an appointment to have her fixed. But you have to wait until they are six months old, which she turned 1 day before her surgery! I can't believe she is six months old already!! When the time came closer for her surgery, we got so nervous for her. I know she isn’t a child or anything, but she’s all we have right now and we love her and don’t want her hurt!

When the doctor was examining her before they took her back, she knew something was up and was very clingy to us. She did not want to go to that back room, that’s for sure. All day we worried about her hoping she was doing okay. When we went to pick her up, she came out with the saddest look on her face. Like, “Hi guys, you have no idea what I’ve been through today!” But you could tell she was so grateful to see us again.

They told us she had been throwing up after her surgery and that we could give her ¼ cup of water when we got home, but that’s it. We gave her that little bit of water which she threw up immediately. It was so sad. She was very tender all night and very sleepy and clingy. We hated seeing her like that. But by the next day, she was back to her normal self and wanted to run and jump as much as usual. We were told to keep her as inactive as possible for 10 days. That was pure torture for her! She just couldn’t understand why we were restricting her so much.

She’s doing so much better now and her scar is all healed up. Luckily girls don’t have to wear the cone of shame, that was a real blessing. She left her incision alone the entire time, so we really lucked out. Glad we have to go through this only once with her!

Look at that face...how can you resist it!

Welcome baby Matthew

2011-08-30T11:54:00.000-06:00

Shawn and Kristen welcomed baby #2 on Thursday August 25th! Matthew Shawn Brady was supposed to come earlier, but decided to wait until Daddy's birthday. Guess he wanted to share his special day! He weighed 9 lbs 3 oz, and is 22.5 inches long. Sounds like he takes after his daddy's height too! I'm sure Natalie is being a great big sister to her new little brother. He is so cute and we can't wait to meet him at the end of October when he comes to Utah for a visit.

Congratulations Shawn and Kristen!!!

A fun new toy

2011-08-24T15:31:00.001-06:00

When Darin and I got our tax return at the beginning of the year, I wanted us to use some of the money for something fun for Darin. He always takes such good care of our little family and never asks for anything for himself. He just never wants to spoil himself, no matter how I try to urge him. One of the things he was considering doing with some of the money was getting a new Xbox 360. He has a really old Xbox that doesn’t play any of the new games he wants. We have a Wii that he plays, but it also doesn’t play everything he wants. So I told him we should get one. But he hesitated. Darin was so nervous about becoming one of those husbands that plays video games all day and all night and neglects everything else. I told him I would help him monitor his play time, but he still hesitated.

A few months went by and the topic came up every once in a while, but he still never made a decision to do it. Then a couple weeks ago I was planning on doing a bunch of sewing, so Darin asked his dad if he could borrow his Playstation to play the game Civilization (the main reason he wanted the Xbox). During one of my sewing breaks I came downstairs to this:

Seriously, so dang cute!!

I knew he wanted a game of his own so bad. Then a lucky star crossed our path. Right now Darin’s work is doing a wellness campaign and Darin has been participating in it. One Friday I get an excited email from him that he was a winner of one of their wellness drawings. His prize choices were: an extra day of vacation, an 8 GB Nano, or $150 to go towards a gym membership or exercise equipment. Darin doesn’t really need more vacation and we already have a 16 GB Nano. But we didn’t really want to buy any exercise equipment either. But then Darin had a brilliant idea. His work will also pay half the cost of exercise equipment up to $250 for a $500 purchase. So he thought, “I wonder if I can combine the prize money with the 50% reimbursement money and convince work that an Xbox 360 with the Kinect is exercise equipment!” So he talked to HR and they said they think it would be okay, but took it up the chain to be sure. Then he got the official go ahead!

I was so very excited for him. This meant he could get the Xbox 360 with Kinect and games. We could spend $500 on everything and would only have to pay $100!!! Talk about a total score! Darin was so excited, and I was so glad he was finally going to have a chance to spoil himself with something he has wanted for a very long time. Here he is with his brand new toy!

Target was having a good sale on games, so we were able to get 3 fun games, plus the one that comes with the system itself. One is even for me, Zumba, and it is really fun. We both have had fun with the Kinect, and I totally believe it is exercise equipment because it sure does make you move!

Congrats Dear, I'm so happy for you and am so glad you are having fun with your new games!

Wolf Creek

2011-08-24T15:06:00.000-06:00

For this year’s Brady family vacation, we headed up to Wolf Creek for a week of rest and relaxation. Unfortunately Darin and I weren’t able to go up the entire week, but we joined them as soon as we could. We headed up on Wednesday night and stayed until Saturday night. It was so nice to get away for a few days.

On Thursday we just took it easy and relaxed. Darin and I went out to lunch together while the rest of the family went to play in Ogden. Then Darin went golfing with his dad, Marian and Jeremy and I stayed home and made a yummy lasagna dinner for everyone. Then we put all the kids to bed and played a Settlers round robin tournament. It was way fun!

Friday we woke up early and headed to Pine View Reservoir. Richard rented jet skis for us to play on and we also had the canoe and paddle boat. A day on the beach was just what we all needed. And luckily Maria and Emilio found us the perfect spot that was pretty secluded. So we got our own little beach to ourselves…except when the weird family came and invaded us for a little while. I have never been great with deep water. I’m not a strong swimmer, so it makes me nervous. But I am now a whole lot wimpier than I ever used to be. I don’t know if it is me getting older, or being married and not on my own anymore or what. Poor Darin discovered how scared I really was when he tried to get me to drive the jet ski…not a good thing! Other than that, we had an awesome and fun day at the beach and playing in the water.

I love this picture of Caitlin. She is growing up so much and is such a beauty!

Mckenna acting tough on the jet ski!

Darin and me paddling along with Rylee and Austin.

This picture cracks me up. I love Braden wearing his sister's pink sunglasses upside down. He looks so cool!

Taking time to relax on the beach and read.

On Saturday a lot of us went on a fun little hike. Darin and Bryan stayed home because they were very sore and sunburned. I was the trail boss on the hike, mainly because we didn’t want any of the kids to go wondering off. So the rule was nobody could pass me! It was a fun and easy hike, other than when Celeste and I got swarmed with grasshoppers! That was pretty freaky, I did not enjoy having them jump all over us and land in our hair. Other than that, it was fun and the kids did really well on the hike.

Celeste looks adorable in this photo!

Poor Emilio had double duty on the way down. Good thing those kids are pretty light!

Eric strutting his stuff on the log bridge!

After the hike we went to the Rainbow Gardens gift shop at the mouth of Ogden canyon. It was pretty disappointing. But they had these cool butterfly chairs out front!

When we got back from the hike, Darin went golfing again and I went swimming with Jeremy and the kids. It was a lot of fun. Then I packed us up so we could take off after dinner. My mom and Krystal were staying at our house watching Sadie (which we so appreciated), so we didn’t want to stay too late.

I am so grateful for the chance to have a fun vacation with Darin’s family. We love spending time with them! And we are especially grateful to his parents for putting it all together for us. Thank you so much Richard and Susan!! We had a great time!

The living room

2011-08-23T16:24:00.000-06:00

When Darin and I were doing our trek hikes with the youth, we planned on going to “The Living Room” twice, and both times it had to be cancelled. We really wanted to do this hike, so we decided to do it together after trek was over. We were also glad that our hiking book said that dogs were allowed because we really wanted to take Sadie. The book also said this was an easy hike. I personally wouldn’t call it easy, but it was absolutely beautiful. When we went on this hike it had been about a month since we had been home from trek, and our bodies were acting as if we had never done any of the hiking and walking we did all summer. Funny how it takes months to get in shape, and no time at all to get out of it!

Hiking with Sadie is so much easier than doing it on your own. She is such a work horse, she will pull you up the entire hill. I don't know how, but when she pulls you, it makes you go faster and easier. But she sure does breathe pretty hard. I kept trying to get her to slow down and go at a regular pace, but she wouldn't. I think she must think she's Secretariat or something!!

Thank heavens we brought her water, plus some extra. She drank it all up! This puppy loves water.

Some of our beautiful views.

Finally taking a break!

Trying to get a picture with all of us is next to impossible. She does not know how to stay put!

Or she just wants to play!

We almost made it to the top. We only had about 15 more minutes to go, but it was getting dark and we didn't want to be coming down in pitch black. There were some cliffy sides and we didn't trust Sadie and decided not to risk it.

The sunset was gorgeous!

This was an awesome hike, I totally recommend it if you want to see some great views. But don't do it right after dinner like we did. It wasn't very smart!

Welcome baby Grace

2011-08-23T13:12:00.000-06:00

Polly and Jeremy welcomed baby #4 on July 26^th. Grace Uffens weighed 8lb 7oz and was 20” long. We got to go visit them at the hospital and meet baby Grace…or as Braden calls her Baby Gayce. She is so adorable and suggly, we all fight over who gets to hold her whenever she is around. We love having her in our family!

Congratulations Polly and Jeremy!!

Fun N Motion

2011-08-23T13:00:00.000-06:00

This post is totally late, but that’s most posts these days! Polly and Jeremy were expecting their 4^th child at the end of July and we offered to babysit their kids on a Friday night before the baby was born so they could have a date night. The kids were so excited to be able to spend the night with us. Being an aunt is so much fun!

We decided to take them to Fun N Motion. It is a new family fun center that is near their house. One of the girls in our ward works there and we wanted to see her and thought it would be a fun place to take them. It was fun, but it is pretty bare bones right now. Not too much to do and not busy at all. But it was perfect for the kids and they had so much fun. They loved the inflatable slides and bounce houses. Mckenna and Caitlin were really nervous to do the laser maze at first, but that ended up being their favorite thing. It was tough work getting them to move on to other activities!

We had a coupon that gave us free activities if we bought buffet dinners. It saved us a lot of money, but the buffet was absolutely horrible! The kids didn’t seem to mind, but I was not loving it. Here are some fun pics from our night together.

The pass it on pebble

2011-08-16T13:29:00.001-06:00

When I went on trek when I was 14, we did Christmas in July. We drew names and had to give the person in our family a present. The trick is, we didn’t know we were doing this until we got on trek, so the present had to be something we could find or make while on trek. I made my person a bouquet of wild flowers I picked. I remember receiving a flower that had been dipped in wax and a candle made out of it. The point of this activity was to be thinking of someone else while on trek. Because we could only utilize the resources around us, we had to be looking and thinking about that person all day. That took our minds off our own troubles and hardships. It was a great activity.

This past Christmas, I received a little lump of clay with a smiley face engraved in it. It was called a Seed of Happiness. The story behind it was, a potter (is that the right terminology for a person who makes pots and works with clay?) had leftover lumps of clay that he made into little smiles to give out to friends who were going through hard times and needed a little smile. Since then he has given out thousands of smiles to folks a handful at a time. In turn, they share them and the story with their friends who are in need of a smile. These seeds of happiness have been shared all over the world.

That story reminded me of a scene in the movie Muppet Family Christmas. Kermit and Robin discover a Fraggle cave. They explain that they are currently celebrating Christmas and the Fraggles say they are celebrating something similar, but they pass on their presents from the past. One of the most cherished presents is a pebble that has been passed on for years and years. Then they sing this song to explain it and give the pebble to Robin before they leave.

So I thought it would be fun to do something similar to this on trek. I wanted a way for the kids to think about each other instead of themselves. That way they could focus on serving each other instead of their own hardships and trials on trek. I wanted them to be able to lift each other up. And I thought this small pebble would be good to keep in a pocket and it wouldn’t really weigh anyone down.

To be honest, I was really nervous to introduce this concept on the first morning because I thought they would think it was the dorkiest thing ever! But they all participated in it. And I loved seeing these small moments when I happened to catch somebody pass it to another. When they took the time to give someone else a smile and encouragement, you could see how that small kind act affected the receiver. I was scared that the pebble was going to be lost along the trail, and I actually totally expected it. It did get lost twice, and miraculously found both times! Some of them referred to it as the pass it on pebble, the seed of happiness or my favorite, the happy rock!

The pebble being passed on!

At the end of trek before we got on the bus, we gathered in a circle and I told them that I was so glad that they all participated in our pass it on pebble. Everyone had been the receiver of it, which was awesome. They all said they really liked doing it on trek. I told them I had one for each of them to take home. They were so excited. I went around the circle and let them take their pebble and gave them a big hug and told them thank you for everything they did. Everyone, leaders included, got a hug from Ma! It was such a wonderful way to end our trek experience.

All the kids started giving their own pebbles names and some said they would carry it with them all the time. The next day one of the 16 year old boys showed me his in his pocket! I was so happy. Especially because I was so nervous they would think it was dorky that I almost didn’t do it at all. Even after I got all the packages put together…I was that nervous. But I’m so glad that I followed the prompting I originally had to initiate this on trek. It was a great experience and a fun way to show them to care and look out for others.

If you're curious, this is what the pebbles look like up close! Aren't they cute?

Pioneer Trek

2011-08-08T14:27:00.000-06:00

I know, we’ve been home for a month and this is the first time I’m getting a post up about trek. But this post has been so overwhelming for me, I have had no idea how to get everything I want into it. Plus I took about 400 pictures in 3 days, and that’s a lot to sort through. So I’ve ignored it. But I’m not going to put it off any longer!!

Pioneer Trek was such an amazing experience. We feel so blessed to have been a part of it. The youth in our ward were simply AMAZING! Seriously, I don’t know how we got so lucky to have every single one of them be so amazing. We were so impressed with them, they truly exceeded our expectations! They were so positive the entire time, we never got any complaining and they were so willing to help out with anything and everything – sometimes without even being asked. It was incredible. And trust me, I know this can be the age of rebellion and lack of respect with some teens. And I really did expect some of that. But we never encountered any of it. And they had plenty of reason to complain at times, but they chose not to and just kept going and stayed positive. It was such a blessing to us as the Ma and Pa.

The morning we left, this was taken at about 5:30 AM!

The first day we walked 13 ½ miles. We were the last ward in the wagon train (which really bothered all our kids, they wanted to be first) but we had so much fun back there. Because we had a lot of youth, our ward had 3 handcarts. That first day all we heard was our kids singing and dancing as they walked all those miles. It was so much fun to hear them having fun and making the most out of their experience. And you might think that it would be mainly the girls doing the singing, but not in this ward. The boys were instigating just as much as the girls. In fact, one 16 year old boy had to move to a cart that I was near and said the only way he would move there is if that cart sang as much as his last one. It was so adorable.

When we finally got into camp we were all sooo tired. But we had no option but to unload the carts and go and pick up all of our tents and sleeping bags from the trailer and then set up camp. The teamwork of this ward was awesome, they all pitched in and helped. We then had enough time to eat dinner and have some stake time before the heavens opened up and the rain came. We got back to our tents and crashed, feeling thankful for the rest!

James holding our nameless baby. (Noboby could agree on her name, so we always referred to her as "the baby")

The next day we all got up early so we could eat breakfast and quickly break camp and get closer to the front of the line. We were second in line! I knew this day was going to be tough because the woman’s pull was coming. Darin was already nervous for us because we had only 8 girls and 2 leaders to pull 2 handcarts. These handcarts weigh over 500 lbs on their own, then you add all of our stuff in it too! We walked about 2 miles when we stopped for an activity about following promptings of the spirit. I noticed the male leaders were huddled together and wondered what was going on. Darin then came up to me and asked if I wanted to know when the woman’s pull was going to happen. I asked if he knew and he said he did. I told him I didn’t want to know so I wouldn’t be anticipating it. Darin said he was already getting emotional over the thought of me going through it. We started walking again and about 2 more miles later they had us all pull over to the side of the road. I knew this was the moment! I asked Darin if this was it and he said, “You told me you didn’t want to know!” And I said, “But I see the hill in front of us!”

They pulled us all together next to a pond and said that in pioneer times the woman had to be left on their own a lot due to the Mormon Battalion, men were called on missions, illness and death. So they asked all the men to quietly go and take one of the handcarts and leave the women behind. I had just enough time to give Darin a kiss before he left. Then they asked the women to turn around and watch the men leave us and think of it symbolically as our priesthood was going with them. This was not an easy task. We were all very emotional watching those men leave and go up that hill and know that we were now on our own. We had some quick messages from some woman and encouraging thoughts like, “We can do hard things!” and then it was time to go to our handcarts and start pulling again.

We had to do the woman’s pull without any talking. I was on the first cart with 4 girls and the other leader was on our second with 4 girls. Out of our 8 girls, we had two 17 year olds and the rest are very young and around 14. We split up the 17 year olds and that’s about all the strength we had with us. Plus we had two hills to climb that were pretty steep. This was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I have never breathed so hard in my life! When Darin and I hiked the Emigration Canyon Ridgeline, I could at least lean on him for help. But this time, I had to do it on my own and with young girls. I just prayed the whole way up that we would be able to make it. There were times I wondered if our cart was even moving! We were all so tired and so exhausted and it was so hard to be the Ma of these girls and look at the anguish on their faces as they pushed this heavy load up a hill.

When we finally reached the top of the second hill, we could see the beautiful faces of the men standing as sentinels on both sides of the trail with their hats off holding them over their hearts to show respect to us girls. I will never forget what it was like to walk past them and have them watching what we were going through. It was so hard on both the men and the girls. When I finally spotted Darin among the men, I just lost it and started bawling! When we past the men in our ward, I was thinking, “Yes, they get to help us, we’re done!” But we weren’t done. They were able to join us on the trail, but they were not allowed to push yet. We were all still pushing in silence and wondering how much more we could do. Even though the men couldn’t help us, it was so nice having them their and feeling their encouraging spirits around us. We knew we were being watched over and protected and we were no longer alone.

When the trail boss finally gave us the signal that the boys could jump on and help, I can’t even describe the feeling of this immense burden being suddenly lifted off our shoulders. Yet none of the girls dropped off the cart, they stayed on and helped keep pushing. We have warrior women in our ward! When we were finally able to pull over and take a break, I just went up to every girl and hugged them and told them how proud I was of them. I loved seeing the respect that the men and young men showed us girls, and the respect the young women gained for the priesthood and those in our ward who held it. I loved hearing their testimonies as they shared their feelings of what they experienced.

Words cannot describe my reunion with Darin. We just held each other and cried, so grateful to be together again. When the men were allowed to be by us on the trail, so many of them were so anxious to jump on and help that they crowded the first cart. Darin wanted to be by me so much, but he knew the second cart needed help too, so he dropped back and went with them. He was so worried about me, but he kept thinking, “I know she is strong. And I hope she knows I will be with her as soon as I can.” A lot of the young women in the ward commented later on how cool it was to see our reunion, to get to see what true love is like and what eternal love is. If anything, I hope my purpose of being there was showing the youth what it is to wait for the right one and how much happiness you can have when you marry the right person in the right place.

These girls walked arm in arm the entire trail!

Alyssa was the best big sister to our baby. She always held her when nobody else wanted to. I appreciated that so much!

Time to get a little muddy!

Still all smiles!

The second day we hiked 10 miles and my feet were so full of blisters and just throbbed. After we got into camp I felt like I could barely walk. I had just enough energy to help set up camp and eat dinner. After dinner we had some free time before the stake testimony meeting, when Darin told me to go inside our tent to rest a little. I went into the tent and lay down for a few minutes. All around me I could hear the kids talking and having fun and I was so sad that I wasn’t out there a part of it. I felt really bad that I was missing out on an opportunity to spend some free time with them. So after a few minutes I sat up thinking I should at least be doing something productive, so I started reading the scriptures and going over the agenda for our last day. Darin came in and joined me after a little time and some of them noticed us just sitting in there and asked if they could come and join us. Pretty soon we had about 9 people shoved in our little tent and even had some others sitting on buckets on the outside. We all snacked, talked and laughed until it was stake time. It was so much fun for both of us to have them come join us and want to hang out with us. This probably seemed like a little thing to them, but it meant everything to me. I really was feeling sad that I was missing out on precious time with the youth. So to have them come to me when I couldn’t go to them, told me a lot about the type of amazing youth we have in our ward. And this is one of my favorite memories of trek.

The last day of trek we woke up and ate breakfast broke camp. We then had Bishopric time and then had a ward testimony meeting. The testimony meeting was amazing. I loved hearing their testimonies. A lot of them said how they weren’t really looking forward to trek, but that they were so glad they came. One girl even said she was having trouble knowing what her testimony was and was wondering if she really was in the right place. She had considered leaving the church, but throughout her experiences of trek, she had come to know that she had a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and could not deny it! She was so grateful for trek. It was a wonderful testimony meeting. After it, we handed out letters to the kids written from their parents and gave them solo time. I loved sitting there watching them read their letters and scriptures and having spiritual moments on their own. Trek from a leader’s perspective is amazing!

Doesn't he look so cute?

We started walking again and had 5 miles to go our last day. During part of the trail, I happened to have some alone time with the girl who bore her testimony about having questions. I felt prompted to talk to her about it. And since I gave a lesson the day before about following promptings, I knew I had to follow this one, even if I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. I told her that I enjoyed her testimony and thought she was very brave as saying those things in front of people can be scary. But I was sure it helped others as well. I told her that it is okay to have questions and really find out for yourself what your testimony is. People will tell you it is bad to question, but it isn’t. The problem is not in the question, but letting those questions turn to doubts, instead of seeking for the answers. Everybody needs to gain their own testimony and can’t rely on others to get by. I told her of some of my own experiences and bore my testimony to her. It was a wonderful conversation and I feel sure it helped her. I’m so glad I followed that prompting and that I was helped in knowing what to say.

Our ward family!

Without being on trek, it is almost impossible to fully understand the spiritual aspect of it. The spirit that you feel while enduring, the growth of your testimony and the bond you form with the amazing people around you. The youth are such an inspiration. They never begrudgingly did anything we asked them to do, they never hesitated to carry their load or the load of others. They were all loving, kind and selfless to one another. They smiled when they could have cried. They included others when they could have excluded. They put their arms around each other to help them along the way when they were tired. They righteously and joyously endured to the end, with faith in every footstep. The blisters, pain and exhaustion may have completely gone away, but my memories of trek will last a lifetime.

The bus ride home was such a relief. Those kids were so tired!

Just a glimpse of my dirty blistered feet!

My Dad

2011-07-22T11:05:00.001-06:00

As you probably have noticed, I don’t talk about my dad a lot on this blog. Okay, I actually don’t think I’ve EVER talked about him! My parents separated about 2 weeks after my sixteenth birthday. Things were not very good with him around and my mom finally broke free. For the past 15 years, my sister and I have had a pretty rocky relationship with him. We were always fiercely loyal to my mom. My brother has tried to stay close to him, but it hasn’t always been easy. There is a lot of history there that I won’t go into. Let’s just say, I’ve never really been close to him. There were times that we both tried, but things never really took off. In the past few years, things have gotten better. I’ve grown up a lot more and have tried to be closer to him…or at least civil and friendly when we are together. I’m not as bratty as I used to be. We rarely get together, and only see him for birthday celebrations and some holidays. Other than that, I don’t see much of him. Both of my parents have stayed single the entire time since their divorce.

Last year on my birthday dinner with him, he announced that he had started dating someone. This was an absolute shock to me because he always seemed to love his bachelorhood. But the real shock came when he told us who it was. A woman he met at work named Maria who was from Mexico. This might not seem like a big deal, but that’s because you probably don’t know my dad. You see, my dad is by far the most prejudiced person I have ever met. Growing up I heard every racial slur for every race, culture or belief that was different than ours. He thinks the Confederates should have won the war and has all sorts of Confederate memorabilia all over his house. Even a classy sign on his yard fence that says, “Confederate Parking Only”. So when I say that he started dating someone outside his culture, you can imagine how shocked we all were that he would even consider it.

Well come to find out that Maria and him had absolutely nothing in common. She doesn’t speak English, and he doesn’t speak Spanish (which is probably beneficial for him). She was still married but in the works to get divorced, has 7 children – 4 still living with her, and was Catholic. My dad, even though he might not be a great member of the church, still was an active member. So you can understand that we were pretty worried about him getting into a deep relationship with this woman. Not only did they have completely different backgrounds, but they couldn’t even speak to one another! How did they date you ask? Her 12 year old daughter went with them on their dates and acted as the translator!!! Talk about awkward.

We were finally forced to meet her last June and it was one of the worst experiences. She just sat there at dinner and nobody talked to her because, even though I took Spanish in school, I didn’t remember enough to have a conversation with her. It was just absolutely so uncomfortable. After the dinner I wrote my dad an email tell him that I didn’t agree with what he was doing. He never responded to it.

And then in September we were forced to get together to meet her family as they had decided to get married. What the crap? What on earth was my dad thinking? How could they ever make a marriage work when they can’t even talk to each other? And then he was taking on a whole new family. He didn’t want to have anything to do with our family when we were teenagers, so why does he want to take care of hers? There have been so many emotions going on with this whole ordeal. I do want my dad to be happy, but it felt like we were being completely replaced. And I refused to even consider calling her my step mom or think of her kids as my step siblings. I’m too old for that and I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. Not because I’m prejudiced, but because I disagreed with the entire situation. I live an absolutely completely different lifestyle than they do.

They set the wedding date a few times and it had to be postponed a few times. Number one reason was because her divorce wasn’t even final yet! The wedding was finally set for the end of May. They had plans for a big celebration, including alcohol. I was appalled. I couldn’t believe the decisions my dad was making. He wasn’t drinking, but he was allowing it in his fridge at home! I believe strongly that small steps lead to even worse decisions down the road. Anyway, the wedding was set, my dad was in the works of selling his townhouse and buying a new, bigger house for all of them to live in. Then when his house was in the closing stages of selling, my dad lost his job. He had worked at this company for 27 years. He was fired because of his bad temper and apparently he had lost it way too many times at work and they finally let him go. We thought this was going to be a red flag to Maria because she left her first husband because he was abusive. We also thought she was using him for his money and wanted a sugar daddy. So now that he no longer had a job or a place to live, she was going to drop him.

My dad moved in with my brother for about six weeks and the wedding was postponed. My dad started getting unemployment and found an apartment that would be available at the end of June. Then one day out of the blue we got an from him that him and Maria decided to get married and it was going to happen that weekend! What? Maria had been living with one of her daughters and the situation wasn’t going well and she wanted to move in with my dad. So they decided to just hurry and get married. Jason, Krystal and I all couldn’t believe it was actually going to happen. None of us agreed with it and were desperately hoping it was going to be called off. Please don’t think we are bad children, there is just so much to the situation that is hard to understand unless you knew everything. Not even Maria’s children agreed with it. A lot of them didn’t want it to happen either. In fact, Maria had 3 children that refused to come to the wedding.

So on Saturday evening, July 2, my dad got remarried. It was the worst ceremony I have ever been to. They held it in the relief society room in his new ward building and his poor new Bishop performed the very awkward ceremony. Just before it started my dad asked her son to come up and translate it for his mom. Hello, the woman couldn’t even understand her own wedding ceremony!! And the son could only translate the greetings and words at the beginning because he didn’t know the translation for the words in the ceremony. So they had to prompt her when to say I do. It was just awful. And those attending on my dad’s side (which was a small number) were dressed in church appropriate clothing. Her side of the family were very scantily clad…even the 12 year old girl. They were all wearing skin tight, low cut and mini hemline dresses. It was so uncomfortable. At least Maria’s was the most modest of the bunch.

There was no celebration afterwards. We took a couple pictures outside and then we all left for home.

I’m not very happy about it all. But I do hope that in the end, my dad will be happy with the choices that he has made. I guess only time will tell.

Mormon Flats to Big Mountain

2011-07-21T16:30:00.001-06:00

For our last hike before trek, we wanted to pick a route that the pioneers took. Part of the Mormon Pioneer Trail is starting at Mormon Flats and doing a 4 mile hike up to Big Mountain. We went on July 2^nd, so we figured we wouldn’t have a good turn out as most people would probably be on vacation for the holiday weekend. So Darin and I discussed if we should cancel the hike or just do a walk on the Jordan Parkway. But for some reason, we both felt like we should do this hike. So we went ahead with our plans even though we only had 2 girls and 1 leader show up. We drove up to Mormon Flats in our car and arranged for Krystal to meet us at the top of Big Mountain a couple hours later.

This hike is absolutely GORGEOUS and so much fun if you like hiking. Unfortunately one of the girls with us started complaining almost from the very beginning. To the point where she was all out sobbing because she was hating the hike and was in lots of pain. She is an only child who gets taken care of very much from her parents (who we love to pieces) but she has never really learned how to push through the tough things. She had to stop for a break all the time and just said over and over again that she was in pain and couldn’t go on. I also discovered that this was only the second time she had ever been hiking in her life. The first was when she came with us on the Emigration Canyon Ridgeline!

Don’t think we are horrible people, but we knew she really wasn’t in that much pain and just wanted an excuse to turn around and go back to the car. For the first mile, we did stop quite a few times to give her a rest. Then we realized how long it was taking us and we didn’t want to be hiking the entire day, so we just forced her to keep going and not stop. Once we hit the 2 mile mark and she knew it was better to keep going than turn around, she finally stopped complaining and kept moving forward, but at a rather slow pace.

Darin sent me and the other girl ahead to meet Krystal and pick up our car. At mile 3 I realized that Darin forget to give me the keys!! We finally got in cell phone reception and I sent him a text to let him know, when he was not that far behind me! I thought we had covered so much more ground than that! I got the keys and kept on going, this time pretty much by myself. And the last mile is the absolute killer one. Almost uphill the entire way. I finally made it to the top where Krystal was waiting, and where I wanted to collapse. I had done this hike about 5 years ago and it was hard then and I was in better shape! I also realized there is a drastic difference between walking 4 miles and hiking 4 miles. Hiking is definitely harder! From the time we left home, to the time I got to Krystal at the top, it had taken us 5 hours!!!! Darin loved the hike and wants to do it again another time when it is just us and we don’t have whiny girls with us.

We didn't take a lot of pictures on this hike and I realized that we got none with Darin in them. But at least you can see some!

So why did we feel prompted to go on this hike? Well, the next day after she had recovered, she told her mom that she was so glad that she came with us. She was really scared to go on trek and now after accomplishing that hike, she knew that she would be okay on trek. She was so excited that she did it! And her mom was so grateful to us for taking her and preparing her. See, sometimes it is easier to give in and give kids what they want. But when you push them to succeed and help them along the way, they gain so much confidence and pride in knowing they accomplished something hard! I’m so glad we didn’t give her a way out and she learned that she could do it.

Big thanks to Krystal for being willing to come pick us up and give us a ride back to our car. This was definitely not a round-trip hike!

17 Miracles

2011-07-01T14:59:00.000-06:00

I hope nobody gets too tired of hearing about Trek plans, because the posts are just going to keep on coming!

Back in May, Darin and I were invited to the premier of Pirates of the Caribbean 4. We had to be to the theater super early, so we had about an hour of just sitting there talking and stuff. I mainly sat there eating popcorn and watching the loop of promotions and junk over and over again. But one of the promotions the theater kept showing was for the new movie 17 Miracles. Seeing that it was about the pioneers, I paid more attention to it. The preview of the movie looked great and I was really interested in seeing it. Darin and I talked about it and thought it would be a good idea to do an activity with the youth where we saw it together. But time just got away from us and we never were able to do it. But we still wanted to see it before Trek. And boy am I sooooooooo glad we did!!

I can’t even express the emotions I had while watching this movie. Because I have been reading lots of stories about the handcart pioneers in the book our Stake prepared for us, I recognized some of the names and stories about some of the people depicted in the movie. Before they were just names to me. But now, they are real people who went through some horrible trials and exercised amazing faith to endure them. There were many, many times during this movie that I felt like a message was meant specifically for me.

Some of the things that jumped out at me was how heavily they relied on prayer. They had to. They had nothing else they could rely on. They had to put ALL their faith and trust in the Lord and fully submit to His will. Darin and I pray all the time, but I started asking myself if I rely on prayer as much as they did to get me through my trials. I think so many times I pray for help, but try to rely on my own strength to get through. But do I ever give up my own will and turn it all over to the Lord? To be honest, not very often lately. Letting go that much scares me because I am scared that His will won’t be what I want. Of course the majority of this is in regards to children. I desperately long to be a mother and I absolutely hate that it hasn’t happened for us yet. But I know that if I put all of my trust and faith in the Lord, everything will work out for us. I don’t know yet what that means, but I am trying to keep faithful.

I also noticed how grateful they were, especially for the gospel in their lives. The chance to go to Zion was a joy and a blessing for them, no matter what they endured in the journey. I love this gospel with all my heart and I am so grateful for it. But sometimes I think I take all of my blessings for granted. I was born here, I didn’t have to travel thousands of miles to get here. I was born to parents, especially my mom, who taught me truths and obedience from birth. I have never known persecution, starvation, physical torment from the elements or tragic deaths of loved ones. I have been blessed beyond measure. One of the lines from the movie is of an elderly woman who is dying and she says, “I die with my face toward Zion.” Just the mere fact that she was headed there was enough of a blessing to her, even if she actually never made it. They were grateful for the meager portions they ate. But especially grateful for the gospel and the chance they received to know it. I hope that I can realize and show that much gratitude in my life.

There is a couple in the movie who love each other very much. They want to be married so badly, but they want the blessing to be sealed even more. So they wait and travel to Zion so they can be married the proper way. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I am not going to ruin it for you by telling what happens. But I will say, I cried the most at their story. It was so incredibly touching. I honestly can’t put into words the emotions while watching them. Marriage has changed me in so many ways, but especially the way I look at true love. I am so incredibly grateful that I have been married and sealed to Darin. He is, by far, the most incredible man I have ever met. Our sealing was the most wonderful moment in my life and I am so grateful that we are so fortunate to have so many temples nearby. I am so grateful for the knowledge that families are forever and that no matter what we go through, it will all be worth it.

I cried and cried and cried during this movie, that I left the theater with a splitting headache! But that’s okay, I am so glad we got to see it. Especially before Trek. Boy did it help get me in the spirit of why we are doing this. I am so thankful to those faithful pioneers and everything they did so that I could be blessed so greatly. I am so grateful for this gospel, for the knowledge and peace it brings into my life daily. I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who watches over every single one of His children and cares for them. I am grateful for this calling. I wasn’t always so grateful for it, especially in the craziness of all of our preparations. But I am so grateful that I was able to re-focus on the important things and not let the stupid little things get in the way.

If you haven’t seen this movie, I HIGHLY recommend it. You will love it, I promise! If you are in an area where the movie isn’t available to you in a theater, do everything you can to see it when the DVD comes out.

Emigration Canyon Ridgeline

2011-06-30T13:22:00.000-06:00

As you all know, Darin and I have been very busy lately getting our kids ready for Trek (one week from today!). Which has included a hike every Saturday morning. Luckily Polly gave me an awesome book for Christmas that has tons of information about hikes within 60 miles of SLC. We have tried to stick to SLC as much as possible because it has great pioneer heritage and we don’t want to drive too far away. This last Saturday we decided to try the Emigration Canyon Ridgeline. None of us had ever done it and the book said it had a lot of pioneer history to it and it was a long but easy hike…about 5.2 miles roundtrip. So we thought this would be the perfect one to try next.

Luckily Darin and I decided to see if we could locate the trailhead on Friday night so we would be prepared for Saturday morning. We took Sadie with us and when we found the trailhead, we thought we would walk it for a little to check it out and give Sadie some exercise. The first part was paved with a very slight incline, not too bad, but my body was already telling me it was tired. Then we got to the dirt path and a sudden steep hill. And when I say steep, I mean STEEP!!! From far away, it doesn’t look bad at all. Then when you get right up to it, you realize you are going to die as you attempt to climb it. Literally, it was one of the hardest hills I’ve climbed. We got to the top of the hill (after several breaks) and I thought, “Holy cow, this hike is going to kill us tomorrow. Especially if this is one of the little looking hills on the book’s map!” We decided to go to the store to get the kids some treats to eat on a break at the top. Granola bars, fruit snacks and zingers…yum!
Saturday morning we had a pretty good turn-out, Noni even joined us as she is going on Trek with her ward later this summer. We were so glad most of the kids brought their camel backs as lots of water was required!

Check out these beautiful views!

I LOVED all the fields of flowers, it was so pretty!

We were all so tired when we got about 2 miles in that we decided to stop. The next hill in front of us was just way too big and we didn't have the strength to keep going. Not really the pioneer spirit, but at least we tried!! This is us at the top having a snack and taking a break.

Cody caught a little lizard. He named it Cactus because he found him on a cactus.

During our break I gave a mini lesson about the handcart companies and read journal entries and testimonies from the pioneers. It was a great way to get them in the proper spirit for Trek.

Heading back down!

I tried to take pictures to illustrate how steep this hill really was. It was so hard to really capture it. But this picture does give you a sense for how high and steep it was. Going down it was pretty scary!

Overall, it was about a 4 mile hike with lots of peaks and valleys. The view was absolutely gorgeous and I would definitely recommend this hike. But be warned, it is very difficulty if you are not in awesome shape. But it was such a great experience to do it with the amazing youth in our ward. Going on these hikes has been such a fun experience for us and has really helped us get closer to these kids. I am very grateful for it.

Darin crashed on the couch when we got home!

Flabby Road

2011-06-17T11:46:00.002-06:00

My company just started a wellness program. It has been really fun so far, I'm pretty excited about it. One of the elements of the wellness program is a weight loss challenge. You form a team of 5 and the team that loses the biggest percentage by September earns 50,000 points! Our team is called "Hip Hip Away" and our before picture is themed like the Beatles Abby Road cover, but we called it Flabby Road. We were all holding props to show how bad we are in our "before" life. I'm holding one of Sadie's chew toys that looks like a piece of chicken and a KFC bucket. Didn't it turn out so cute? Can you guess which Beatle I'm suppose to be?

Decisions, decisions...

2011-06-15T10:21:00.002-06:00

Sometimes, they are just really hard to make!

City Creek Canyon

2011-06-10T07:58:00.005-06:00

On Saturday we took the kids on a hike up City Creek Canyon. We only had 2 girls and 2 boys show up this time. And on Wednesday, not a single person showed up for our walk. Needless to say, I’m getting pretty discouraged about preparing these kids for Trek. We do fliers and remind them constantly, but still get pretty poor attendance. I just hope they are not complaining too much on Trek, because we have given them plenty of opportunities to get prepared. Okay, enough venting!!

We parked up at Memorial Grove and started going on the paved path. Darin noticed the dirt path on the other side of the creek, and we asked everyone if they would rather hike the dirt path. They all wanted to, so when there was a bridge, we changed sides.
For the most part, it was a gorgeous hike and not too hard. But then we got into some very scary situations. Because it has been so wet this spring, the water everywhere is incredibly high. I was leading the hike and I got to this point where I didn’t think we could keep going. The water had washed away a lot of the path and we had this tiny narrow path to go across on the side of a cliff and rushing water just beneath us. I started to get a little panicky and said that I couldn’t go any further. The 2 boys that were with us were awesome and said they would go first and help us across. So we did and everyone got across okay. But we just kept coming to dangerous areas that were steep or crazy. I was getting pretty worried.

Such good boys!
At one point, this random dog joined us. Luckily he found his owner again!

And at one point, we lost the path all together. Alex wanted to still check things out and went ahead. We all called him back to us, thankfully his Dad is one of the leaders! All I could envision was him slipping and going into the rushing creek. Of course in my panic, I had to take a picture just to show how scary the situation was. We found another path beyond that and Darin had Cody and Alex scope it out as the three of us girls did not want to continue. They said the path was fine and we could keep going. The boys were up ahead and there was a switch back, so they were actually above us. As one of the boys was trying to climb up the top, he put his hand down on a huge rock to steady himself and it slipped and fell and came down on the path where us girls were standing with our first counselor. We all screamed as the huge rock came crashing down by us. Luckily, where we were standing there was a slight indent to the cliff and we were in the path more. That was a major blessing because if that rock had hit anyone, it would have caused serious damage! That was the time I knew it was time to turn around and go back. We went up to the top where the boys were, looked over, turned around and headed back. No more scary adventures for me! I’m actually sort of glad we had a smaller group on this hike because if there were more kids, it might have been harder to keep us all together and there were many times that things could have gone wrong. I am so thankful we pray for safety on these trips and that the Lord watches over us!

Memorial Day

2011-06-10T07:18:00.007-06:00

I guess now that Darin and I have a house, we’ll be forever volunteered to host things! Memorial Day was no exception. The weekend was a great one though and I am so glad that everyone feels welcome in my home. I love having family around me. And luckily Darin and I just bought a brand new grill for our backyard. We bought it two weeks before Memorial Day and it went on sale over Memorial Weekend, so we went back to Lowes to see if they would reimburse us the difference, and they totally did! We got $70 back and a free propane exchange. Total score!!

Darin assembling the grill
The first time we used it, it was pouring outside, so Darin rigged up a mini shelter for himself!On Sunday Darin and I had the day to ourselves. We enjoyed a delicious hobo dinner on the grill and then headed to Larkin cemetery to visit his grandparent’s and brother’s grave, as well as my grandpa’s grave. When we arrived it was threatening to storm (as it had already been raining all weekend long!), by the time we got to my grandpa’s grave it was pouring. Needless to say, we didn’t stay long.Then on Monday we cleaned the house and mowed the lawn to prepare for family. It was just going to be a potluck BBQ. I tried out 2 new salsa recipes and they were AMAZING! Can I just say how much I love my new Our Best Bites cookbook that Darin got me for Mother’s day! We spent a lot of time indoors because it was pretty cold out. But we got to be outside for a little too. We also got a surprise from my uncle. He brought us a housewarming gift of outside chairs and a little table. I was so surprised and never expected anything! It was so nice of him. More rain! So up came the tarp again! Enjoying the brief moments outside without rain

I love Memorial Day. It is always such a nice kick start to Summer. If Summer ever officially comes to these parts!

Ensign Peak

2011-06-03T14:09:00.012-06:00

Now that we are getting so much closer to Pioneer Trek (Only 5 more weeks, holy cow!) we are trying to take the kids on more hikes rather than walks. But with all the snow that is still left in the mountains, we are having to find hikes that are more in Salt Lake. So last Saturday we took them up to Ensign Peak. It was a lot of fun. That hike is not very long, but it is hecka steep. At the very beginning I was dying, and luckily, so was everyone else! So I didn’t feel too bad. The girls were saying how tired they were and I said, “Now just imagine pulling a hand cart too!” and they were like, “Oh Sister Brady, why did you have to say that?”
We finally made it to the top and had fun looking over the Salt Lake Valley and taking photos. We had a mini lesson on the importance and meaning of Ensign Peak given by the first counselor in our Bishopric and Darin.

Before going back down Darin and I wanted a photo at the top. But this one girl who has really clinged on to us wanted to be in it too. So we had to do one with her and one with just the two of us!

Then we had to take it slow going down because you really have to put on the breaks to not tumble down the mountain!

At the bottom we took a break and Darin talked about the significance on the church flag. I tried to get photos of some of the kids, but some were being a little difficult!!

It was such a fun experience. I’m so glad we were able to go with them. We didn’t have as many kids come that we were hoping for, but we still enjoyed the time with the ones who did. Our next hike is City Creek Canyon.

Being a peacemaker

2011-06-01T14:55:00.001-06:00

As a part of my Personal Progress endeavors, one of the value experiences was learning about what a peacemaker is and practice being one for two weeks. Darin and I had a really good FHE lesson on peacemaking and ways that I could improve. During the two weeks I couldn’t complain, gossip or criticize. I had to seek the good in everyone and all situations. I’m not going to lie, I was terrified to do this for two weeks. I wasn’t sure I would be able to do it.

I told everyone in my family that I was going to experiment with this and that they had to help me in my endeavors. I definitely needed their help with encouraging me. The first week was so awesome. I really kept peacemaking my entire focus and it not only helped me, but it helped my family because they knew that I wasn’t going to join in on some of their conversations, so they stopped them. It also helped me to look at people or situations differently. I really tried to look at things from a different point of view. I had an occasional slip up, but I would catch myself quickly and stop. Which I think is really good progress and the point of the whole experiment.

The second week was a little harder. Something happened during that week in regards to our calling and I couldn’t be a perfect peacemaker. I had been very hurt and I had to vent my frustration and talk it through with others. Even though I wasn’t supposed to be complaining, I was. It was impossible for me not to. But after talking through some of the frustration with Darin, I suggested we say a prayer to find help in resolving the problem. The next day I felt so much peace knowing that things would work out okay and the Lord would take care of it the way it was supposed to. I felt a lot better after that and am determined not to be offended or keep a grudge. I really am trying to understand the situation/person better and let go of any hurt. So even though I had a major slip up in the peacemaking department, I think it still helped me to focus on the good instead of dwelling on any bad.

Because I had my slip up, I decided to try to keep it going another week. The third week was even harder because I became lazy about it and found myself running into situations at work that made it hard for me to be a peacemaker. I decided that my work adds to a lot of my criticizing and complaining. When I was at home, I had no problems with it.

All in all, this was a wonderful experiment. I really shouldn’t look at it as an experiment any more, but a goal to make a part of my life for good. I do need to always look for the good in others and try not to complain, criticize or gossip. These are bad things that can hurt people and I know I should always strive to be better. I am so thankful for being able to participate in the Personal Progress program. It is helping me improve in so many ways!

Babysitting the Uffens

2011-05-10T14:14:00.000-06:00

This post is LONG over due. I meant to do it forever ago and kept forgetting to upload the video. (But now the video won't upload, so we are moving forward without it) Back in the end of March, Jeremy had a business trip in Denver that Polly was going to go along for. You know, a much needed break from the kids! We were asked to take the kids on Sunday and I was so excited to do it.

I'm so impressed with how organized Polly is. She is seriously an awesome mom. When we picked them up on Sunday morning, she had everything ready, notes on their routines and even created a picture calendar for the kids so they knew what was happening every day while they were gone. It was so cool.

We took them to our place to spend the morning before church. Polly had them dressed, but asked if I could do their hair. That was sooooo much fun. But lesson learned, never do their hair hours before church. You'll just have to do it over again before you leave because playing makes it messy! I made Caitlin and Mckenna pose for me. Aren't they adorable!

We had lunch together, colored, played games and still had lots of time before church. So we decided to all snuggle together on the couch to watch a movie. Mckenna even made this work of art for Sadie!I tried to get a picture of the 3 of them together before church, but Braden wanted Uncle Darin in the picture too! Church wasn't too bad. They all had plenty to keep them busy during Sacrament Meeting (even though I can now fully understand how hard it is to pay attention to the speaker when you are taking care of 3 kids!). The girls went to Primary together and I went with Braden to nursery. After church we took the kids over to Grandma and Grandpa Brady's for family dinner.

They were so good all day, they each earned a puzzle when we took them home to put them to bed. After singing a song and saying the prayer, they all went to bed really well. Caitlin even gave Uncle Darin a big hug and kiss on the cheek. It was so cute.

Thanks Polly and Jeremy for letting us play with your darling kids all day. We loved it!

Square dancing

2011-05-09T17:14:00.000-06:00

Darin and I have been trying to get the youth in our ward ready for Trek. We've been going on walks with them and trying to do activities. Luckily Darin's dad was a great resource for us when it came to teaching them how to dance the way the pioneers did!! He came and called a square dance for us the week before last and we all had a GREAT time! We had lots of youth show up and even bring some of their friends. And the crazy thing is, we had more boys there than girls! So Darin had to sit out, which made me sad, but it also gave me the opportunity to get to know more of the boys so it was good at the same time. I think the hardest part of the night was getting the boys to get their initial partner. Sheesh what a fight they put up. They acted like we were asking them to marry them or something!

One of the best parts of the night was when Richard was setting up his equipment, one of the boys walked up to him and said, "Wow, I've never seen a real record machine before!!" Oh brother, way to make us all feel ancient. Spoiled kid with all of your new technology!

Here we are learning how to walk in a circle. Getting the basics down!

Doing the allemande left with my corner. Don't ask me why I have this facial expression!

The dosado!
After we got all the basic moves down, which took quite a bit of work and patience for my father-in-law (he was so fantastic with these youth!) he then taught us a more complicated line/square dance. It took us a while to get it down, but we sure did have fun!Then during one of our breaks, Darin put on the Amos Moses and taught it to some of the kids. It was so cute to watch! I have the cutest husband ever!
At the very end we did the Virginia Reel. That was probably my favorite part because Darin got to be my partner. Holy cow, that dance is a work out! So much fun.

So I have to share one of my biggest learning moments of the night. I'm slightly ashamed to admit it, but here goes. There is this family in our ward where all the kids are somewhat "different". They are just unique and I'm trying to learn their personalities and not judge. Well, at first I had a bunch of different young men as my partners and was kind of glad that the odd boy wasn't my partner. Then he got partnered with his sister and so to fix that, Richard put me with him so they wouldn't have to dance together. I had a total high school moment when I was thinking, "Oh no, the weird boy is going to be my partner! I want one of the cool boys." Seriously, what was wrong with me? I'm 31 years old, I shouldn't care about those stupid things anymore.

And then I quickly learned how silly I was being. He was by far the BEST partner I had all night. He was so much fun. When he promonaded me around, he would skip and have fun. He was carefree and let me be too. It was awesome. He was so worried about getting all the moves right that he worked so hard all night. I can still picture the look on his face when I would come toward him and he had to put his arm around my waist to turn me, he always wanted to do it right and he didn't act like a foolish teenage boy (the way some of them did when they had to put their arms around the other girls). He was just amazing and I LOVED dancing with him. I felt so bad that I ever misjudged him. I feel I'll be constantly learning this lesson throughout my life until I finally wise up and learn how to see people with Christlike love instead of a worldly perception.

All in all, it was a fantastic night. The kids had so much fun! I had so much fun! And so grateful to Richard and Susan for taking a night to devote to our youth. We received so many compliments about them and how wonderful they are. I know, I'm so lucky to have the in-laws that I do!! Thanks again for all of your help!

Random thoughts I agree with

2011-05-05T11:48:00.000-06:00

I was looking through some of my old email folders trying to find a specific one from my brother, and I ran across this one from him. It's just one of those email forwards that everyone receives, but this one contained so many random thoughts that I agreed with that I had to post it here. I'm sure you have all seen this before, but if not, enjoy!

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can thinkabout is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my ownstory that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going inthe complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. Thisrecently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never beending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the crap was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

How the crap are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2trips to bring my groceries in.

Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hearis "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent an idiot from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, andyou can wear them forever.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want tohave to restart my collection. (I refuse to buy blue rays!)

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I didnot make any changes to.

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answerwhen they call.

I wonder if cops ever get ticked off at the fact that everyone they drivebehind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.