Justin kinda likes sports!

Prayer Request

On February 21, 2009 at 10:08 a.m. my little cousin Jace was born. He weighed a mere 1 lb. 10 oz., and is 13 in. long. His mommy Kim was only 24 weeks pregnant with him. She is doing well and so is Jace but they can still use all the prayers they can get. Thank you!

Forever in Love

On March 3rd, Gary and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. 19 years and still bein' cheesy! I still can't believe it! I never imagined I'd still be this silly over him after all these years. He is the most incredible human being I know. He is so intelligent, he's an amazing father to my kids, the best husband in the universe, so witty and hysterical, can fix absolutely anything, he's very creative, and he's my very best friend. Definitely too good to be true. I love him more than anything and it just keeps getting better. He still gives me butterflies everyday. I am beyond grateful that God chose someone like him for me to go through this crazy life with. He is my rock during the hard times and my party friend during the good times. I love how we've built a history together and I can't wait to see where the rest of the years take us.

Winter Fun at the Frandsen Cabin!

On the weekend of Feb. 21st, we went and spent the weekend at the Frandsen cabin. We went with Gary's brother's & their families and had the time of our lives! The cabin is located in the beautiful Scofield mountains. Good Times!

Trouble!

My amazingly talented baby sister and photographer got ahold of my beautiful baby girl and made a model out of her! I am so proud of KaLee- she is so artistic and did an incredible job! You can see her work at http://imagesbykaleej.blogspot.com. Emily was a natural. She has always had an interest in fashion design and feels that modeling will help broaden her knowlegdge of the field. KaLee has agreed to help her build her book and we're hoping this is the first of a series of shoots.

GO UTES!!!

GO UTES!!!

What a fun time we had watching the Utes take on Alabama for the Sugar Bowl! It was a great addition to our already fabulous weekend! Shelley & Adam were in town from Idaho for New Years and it was a long fun weekend full of great memories. It was so dreamy spending time with my sisters Shelley & Sarah and their awesome families. We are also so grateful to our friend who also joined us! Rick & Tawny, Kenny & Marriah, Moose, and Brian! Tawny (who took her daughter to the Miley Cyrus concert) said it was almost as loud! Way too much fun. There is no funner game to watch than when the underdogs kick serious butt! We ended the night with some karaoke with the kids & just had the time of our lives. Thanks so much UTES!!!

GO UTES!!!

Merry Christmas!

(oo grr, I can't get the paragraphs to line up right- sorry if this is hard to read)

I have to start by thanking you all for the prayers, love, well wishes, and support you have given. It has been overwhelming and I am so grateful for each of you. God has blessed me with the most incredible family and friends and there are no words to thank Him enough. I sincerely hope each of you had the best Christmas ever!

We thought about Christmas early this year, and what it really means to our family. We cherish spending time quality time with the kids and really believe this is what the Christmas spirit is all about. With that in mind, we asked the kids in the summer what they would like more this year; presents or a family trip. They chose the trip and Gary and I were so grateful! We took them on a little Baja Mexico cruise. We left from San Diego and went to Cabo San Lucas, Ensenada, then back to San Diego. We had such an incredible time!! Started out kinda weird though.

December 12th was both the day we were leaving on the trip and the day I finally had my dr. appointment. I had another bubble echo cardiogram and a trans-cranial doppler- fancy for heart and brain ultrasound. It was determined that I had a PFO but it was too small for surgery. I would be lying if I said wasn't devastated. (Especially when I learned that it was because insurance won't pay for the repair unless I have a stroke first). I really thought this was the answer to the migraines. Oh well, back to the drawing board! The great thing about migraines is that although they are debilitating, they are temporary. You always know that they will go away.

I know God has a plan for this whole thing and I'm actually really excited to see where He leads me! Times like this always remind me of a favorite scripture. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

So Gary, Emily, and Justin left early to go to San Diego and I met them there later that night. After that, all our troubles melted away. The weather was perfect in Cabo! It rained in Ensenada, but it certainly didn't stop the fun! The kids looked amazing at the formal dinner and it was so much fun. I'm pretty sure Justin ate 552 ice cream cones on the ship- and Emily probably ate that many chicken nuggets! So funny!

If you have never taken a cruise with your kids- I would HIGHLY recommend it! You can find short 3-5 day cruises for very reasonable prices. We ended up spending less than we had in quite a few years on presents the kids probably don't even remember. It was so dreamy spending time with our busy teens. They are just the coolest, funniest people in the world. We didn't realize how much we missed them until we all got away from cell phones, computers, and sports!!

The kids swam with dolphins in Cabo. That was supposed to be the highlight of our trip. However, as we were about to head out snorkeling, our guide said we had to change our itinerary. Apparently some giant humpback whales were migrating, so darn it, we had to take a little detour! That was truly the most breathtaking experience we had ever had! Our guide took us right up to them (apparently it was dangerously close) and we saw 3 of the largest creatures we could imagine! We were overwhelmed to say the least.

We were awestruck at the sheer magnitude of their tail fins, and the the spray from their blowholes, but just when we couldn't dream it could get any better, one of them jumped up all the way out of the water! We saw the WHOLE thing- and it was unimaginable! We didn't get a picture in time, but it was weird, like it all happened in slow motion. There was a ship behind the whale and the whale seemed bigger!

Needless to say, our Christmas cruise was incredible and the kids said they would love for us to do this again next year. We'll have to see what the year brings!

In San Diego the morning of the cruise

We're on the Carnival Elation!


Emily, Gary, & Justin in Cabo

This doesn't show how enormous their tailfins were

If you click on the collage, you can see it better

Us at La Boufadora in Ensenada

This was just a picture we took from our cabin window of the ocean. Incredible!

Family Makes the Most Fabulous Friends!

We had a pretty incredible Thanksgiving this year. It was just us and our siblings- no parents at all. We missed them dearly, but there is something very special about the bonds between brothers and sisters. First we spent time with Gary's brothers, wives, and their kids. Then we got to spend time with my sisters, husbands, and their kids. We are all such incredibly good friends. It was so casual and comfortable- it was awesome just chillin' together. I have to say it will go down as one of my favorites ever! Even if we weren't family, I believe we'd all still be great friends!